How Yarmouk camp became the worst place in Syria

 Jonathan Steele's story includes a fair amount of unanswered disinformation about the Syrian opposition and their supporters: the SNC want Obama to bomb Damascus, the West oppose a truce in Yarmouk because they support the opposition's interim government, the Free Syrian Army is backed by western governments. But it should still be easy to see how appalling the endorsement of starvation as a war tactic by a PFLP-GC supporter of Assad is.

 “It was a mistake to break the siege. If we had continued by another week, hunger would have forced them to give up.”

Blast 'hits Aleppo intelligence HQ'

 Great news. Syrian air force intelligence isn't an "elite agency" with "a reputation for brutality" as the BBC has it, but the most extreme of torturers* of a state of torturers. Much of Aleppo hasn't been "devastated by two years of fighting", but by Assad's bombing. Assad's forces haven't been making "steady advances" around Aleppo, their latest offensive has been decisively beaten back.** And the BBC ends with suggesting that the UN envoy's proposal for a local ceasefire is the answer to all this bloodshed, without mentioning that it has been rejected by all the rebel groups as a way to prolong Assad's tyranny.

*[http://notris.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=air+force+intelligence]
**[http://eaworldview.com/2015/02/syria-feature-opposition-clears-assad-forces-villages-attacked-failed-aleppo-offensive/]

The Ordeal of Syria’s Healthcare Professionals

 'In Syria, civilians as well as healthcare personnel, medical facilities, and ambulances are deliberately and routinely targeted as part of the military strategy of the Syrian government. In an attempt to provide ongoing care to the injured, health workers have opened makeshift field hospitals in homes, factories, and farms, often moving from place to place as they suffer damage or destruction. Only two of the facilities where the individuals interviewed for this report worked escaped attack during their tenure, and one of those was hit after the physician interviewed had left. However, as these field hospitals are hidden, even the extensive documentation of attacks on health workers and facilities in Syria inevitably underreport the extent of attacks.'

Many Syrians Have Been Displaced Multiple Times

 'Ms. Abu Maghara left Aleppo in July after a barrel bomb struck near her building, sending shrapnel and glass tearing through the house and the family cowering for cover. The next day, she, her children and her in-laws got on a minibus and headed back to Al-Bab, her hometown about 25 miles northeast of Aleppo, which has been under Islamic State control for more than a year.

 Once she got there, she was unable to leave the house without a male relative escort. Outside she had to abide by a strict dress code on women and her young children risked witnessing the brutal punishments publicly meted out by Islamic State. She said her 12-year-old son didn’t speak or eat for two days after he saw a man being beheaded by the militants in a public square.

 If she didn’t leave the house, she told herself, she would be safe. But 10 days after the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, Al-Bab was struck 16 times by government planes. More than a month later, the U.S. and its allies in the anti-Islamic State coalition began airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Syria [and non-Islamic State areas, in fact on anywhere where there are rebels/civilians present].

 For months in Al-Bab, Ms. Abu Maghara and her children braced against the regular attacks until Nov. 11. That night, a barrel bomb dropped by regime aircraft struck their home, destroying all but the room they were sleeping in. In the dark of night, neighbors pulled them out of the rubble.

 A day later, the family was back on a minibus to Aleppo.

 “The people are moving around. They don’t know where to go,” she said. “There is only safety outside of Syria, but living outside of Syria requires money. Everyone else remains in Syria.” '

Is Isis the ultimate evil? They would love you to think so

 Owen Jones claimed he wasn't denying Assad's responsibility for chemical attacks in 2013. What else are we to make of this passage, other than as exactly that?

 'At times of war, failing to participate with sufficient zealotry in the vilification of the current public enemy number one is treated as apologising for evil, or even as near-treachery. In the summer of 2013, that applied to the Assad regime after it allegedly gassed hundreds of innocent civilians to death.'

 The rest of the piece is a strange mish-mash too. He starts of by talking about the barrel bombs in Syria, but then just says that Assad doesn't flaunt his attacks, and goes off on a tangent. Clay Claiborne* has answered the standard claim that, 'We knew that jihadis were fighting against Colonel Gaddafi in 2011, and as we bombed Libya, we were their de facto allies. Thanks to western intervention, large chunks of Libya are now under their sway.'

 'And let’s drop the pretence that the west did not effectively back jihadis in Syria either.' Jones has two pieces of support for this claim. One is that a hostage reports that he was handed over by people who he thinks were FSA back to Jabhat al-Nusra. Even if this is the case, it doesn't mean they were even allies, just that they had a minimal level of co-operation in that locality. The other is a vague account of an intelligence report by someone in the CIA saying that hadn't got a clue what is going on in Syria, with nothing to do with any American or Western support for the Syrian opposition at all. The lesson here is not that Western intervention is always the major evil anywhere in the Middle East, but if you don't support those fighting against a régime armed with billion dollars of weaponry, they will find them from somewhere, and will less interested in Western notions of democracy the more they are abandoned to horror without the means to defend themselves. The war on terror and Owen Jones aren't polar opposites, they are both ways of saying the agency of those concerned should be ignored and their suffering allowed to continue.

*[http://claysbeach.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/on-libya-hailed-as-model-journalist.html]

US will 'protect' Syrian rebels when time comes

 'Retired US general John Allen, President Barack Obama's envoy to the international coalition fighting the Islamic State group, insisted that once moderate Syrian rebels were vetted, trained and armed, they would not be abandoned on the battlefield.

 "It is clearly part of our plan, that not only we will train them, and we will equip them with the latest weapons systems, but we will also protect them when the time comes," Allen said at an event organized by the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington.

 Asked if the Syrian rebels would be asked to fight without air cover or a no-fly zone, Allen said "all of those things are under consideration."

 "So it's important that you not believe that we would not support these fighters," he said.'

Syrian activist Nawfal describes her career in Prague

 'She said when the Syrian military was bombing Rakka, it attacked schools, hospitals and civilian areas. It never tried to hit the buildings and areas dominated by the Daish (the name for IS used in the Arab world), she added. She said she and other activists had gone to the streets to protest against IS, like against Assad's regime. Nawfal said they wanted to make it clear that this was a revolution for their freedom, not for what they [IS militants] wanted. If the international community does not do anything but watch how 100, 200 people a day are killed, nothing seems to suggest that anything will change, Nawfal said. She said the world should help Syrians get rid of Assad's regime.'

FSA soldiers live in fear in Arsal

 'Having suffered the double injustice of both fleeing ISIS and standing accused of colluding with its members, morale is desperately low among FSA ranks in Arsal.“We have reached a situation that is very bad. It couldn’t get worse,” said Mohammad, also an FSA commander residing on the outskirts of Arsal. “The Syrian revolution has been orphaned. After what they [ISIS] did in Mosul and after they were trying to build an Islamic State in my country, I felt that this was really an attack on my dignity. I won’t allow myself to go with them ... I am still convinced that we want a free Syria, a democratic country where the people can decide. I know the Islamic State will not provide me with that. We used to offer the revolution everything we had, but today we have become a burden on the revolution because we don’t have anything to offer anymore except our lives, and that is our last option.” '

US Syria policy in tatters after favoured rebels disband

 'The Hazm movement had been seen as the ‘poster boy’ of the moderate opposition Washington hopes can be trained to oust President Bashar al-Assad.'

 Ian Black or his sub-editor should know better. Washington hoped that they could be trained to fight ISIS, and leave Assad alone as much as possible. It is because they aren't some proxy force that the Americans can simply direct to its own ends that the policy has fallen apart.

Abbott's taken the Islamic State's bait

 Another commentator with the solution that, 'We should keep out of this mess and let the rival Sunni and Shia groups settle their differences.' He recognises that, 'Iraqi Sunnis view the Shia militia as an alien occupation army that would more than likely commit plenty of atrocities of their own' but completely fails to mention that this has happened in Syria, castigating Kevin Rudd for 'desperately trying to turn the Syrian civil war somehow to his advantage,' in 2013.

 The truth is that the ham-fisted intervention, the harassment of Muslim young men, these things may help to turn some towards ISIS. But the abandonment of Syrians to a sectarian genocide by Assad and Iran, and the labelling of Syria's suffering people as crazy Sunnis who cannot be helped; that does more damage than anything.

Why Syria’s Assad Must Go – Now

 Murhaf Jouejati:

 'Assad has done much to prop up ISIS, first by releasing hard-core jihadis from his prisons under the guise of presidential amnesty to political prisoners (many of them now constitute the leadership of ISIS), then by aggrandizing ISIS financially through government purchase of oil from the fields ISIS controls (the Assad regime currently purchases electricity from ISIS), and now by concentrating most regime fire, in concert with ISIS, against moderate, secular rebels. In return, ISIS largely abstains from battling Assad’s forces.Without a strong moderate Syrian opposition, there is no way to defeat ISIS in Syria or force a real transition in Damascus.'

Aleppo Residents Burn Furniture to Protect Children

"Please don’t remind me of how I feel burning my furniture, which I struggled to buy as a result of my own sweat and hard work. When I spoke with my wife about burning our bedroom set, she cried and told me to do whatever I felt was best, since the safety of the children is more important than anything. We started burning it and we slept on the ground. After one week the whole room was empty. Now I’m burning the living room furniture like I mentioned earlier. After a while it will also be gone and I will have to find other things to burn.Most people left their homes because of the heavy shelling.

 The Hanano residences are considered one of the most-shelled areas in Aleppo, and they are still being shelled by the regime’s air force, and that’s because they close to the front line. There are only a few hundred families left, yet there used to be over 40,000 families.This war left has no one unharmed. Everybody has lost. We hoped the world would pay attention to us and see the massacres we’ve been suffering for four years. We asked for freedom and dignity. We deserve them and we will fight for them in spite of all the martial complications, and all the armed groups, such as those enemies of the Syrian people, Daesh [ISIS]. We are the owners of the land and we will triumph.I think it must be a military solution and not political at all, because he who kills people in prisons and starves them and burns them alive cannot be faced with humanity, and surely not with a political solution.

 The answer must be the union of the rebels under one flag, and by aiming our guns at the government. Everything else is a waste of time. Before the revolution I was considering improving my business to give my children a better future, and everything was going well, but the non-stop war forced me to leave my job and work as a taxi driver. I feel sad when I see the children, and not just my children. They don’t play and they don’t go to schools. It hurts me when one of my kids asks me to buy him a toy and I don’t have the money to buy it. This is one of the hardest things I’ve ever faced. It’s weird, this feeling I get when a helicopter is flying above our house and my family is panicking, and we try to comfort ourselves by praying to God to keep it away from us."

The Russo-Iranian struggle for Syria

 'Iran is trying to put forward a formula for Syria like the formula Syria put forward for Lebanon. It is trying to use the war on terror, the Arab-international campaign against the Islamic State (ISIS), and the nuclear talks to propose the following deal: the security of Israel and the Gulf in exchange for control of decision making in the Levant and Iraq. In other words, Iran would be allowed to direct political matters in a way that serves the interests of the West and the Gulf.

 This proposal does not worry the Obama administration; in fact, Washington is ready to negotiate. US support for the “moderate opposition” is part of its negotiation efforts—Washington is “wearing down” Tehran and bringing it to the debating table. However, Iran’s proposal does worry Vladimir Putin. Since the beginning of the crisis, Russia has been protecting the regime in the United Nations Security Council by using its right to veto with support from China. It has also been giving financial support to Syrian state institutions.
Moscow sees its influence historically in the traditional institutions, especially the army and the security forces.

 Tehran sees its influence in non-governmental institutions. Russia believes in a “top-down” solution through its interpretation of the 2012 Geneva Communique and the idea of a transitional governing body. Iran believes in a “bottom-up” solution through UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura’s plan because it gives a larger role to local leaders and militias.As well as establishing the NDF, Iran has sought to increase the amount of Syrian real estate it purchases, enlarge Shiite shrines in Damascus and Homs, and facilitate the emergence of a new class of businessmen, who have benefitted from the commissions produced by the evasion of US and European sanctions, especially in the oil and energy sector, and provision of foodstuffs.

 In addition to this new class of businessmen, “warlords” have set their sights on the reconstruction plans for demolished areas of the capital. They hope to combine recent financial gains with demographic changes that have taken place in the “poverty belt” formed around Damascus after the middle of the 20th century—an area which has played a prominent role over the past four years, both in the peaceful and militarized phases of the uprising.'

Assad jailers rape virgins, kill pregnant women

 Lama Shammas:

 ' "They burned women's bodies with hot poles, while hanging them on “the Ghost” from hands for hours was a regular practice," Om Ahmed said.

 The former detainee mentioned that she was subject to tough torture, as security members wanted information about the rebels and their details and places. "They used to drop cold water on my head and body, then hit me, I was hanged from my hand many times on “the Ghost” and tried to humiliate me. However the torture I received was not comparable to what other women had had".'

Main U.S.-Backed Syrian Rebel Group Disbanding

 Still U.S. backed in the headline when the point is that U.S. backing is lacking.

 'A 50-man intelligence unit formed by Hazm to assist in on-the-ground damage assessment of U.S. airstrikes on ISIS and to provide information on al Nusra was disbanded because of the funding reductions, a senior opposition source told The Daily Beast.The cuts in Hazm’s funding coincided with Obama administration aides claiming they were ramping up their efforts to launch a train-and-equip program—promised since September—for rebel militias, part of a U.S. effort to form a proxy force to battle the so-called Islamic State, commonly known as ISIS.Hazm was frequently touted by Obama aides as one of the militias they could rely on—a brigade that could partner on train-and-equip.But like other moderate militias, the program didn’t sit well with Hazm fighters, who were infuriated with Washington at what they saw as a downgrading of their efforts to topple President Assad.'

Assad or IS? No Need To Choose

 “Bashar al-Assad has been murdering his people for years. He is not part of the solution for Syria. We don’t need to choose between a bloody dictator and a ruthless terrorist army. The two should be fought.”

ASU student: I went into Syria months after Kayla Mueller

 "You cross that fence and you're in a completely disheveled country," Alattar said. "You have refugee tents as far as your eye can see, people who fled their cities and homes. In the distance you can hear the bombing and what's going on in the cities. It's not exactly comforting but you know the work you need to do needs to be done by someone."

 The moment they passed through that gate, an imaginary clock started ticking. They had to be out of the country by 4 p.m., Alattar said, because that's when the bombing usually starts. "That was a big thing that was nerve-racking to me like, OK, the bombing starts at 4 so you need to get me out, but what about everyone else who stays on the other side of the border? The bombing is going to continue," Alattar said. They sped toward the sister hospital, where Alattar "saw things that you literally could see in horror movies."

 This Syria was "night-and-day different" from the one she had visited three years ago. The hospital, in an abandoned school, was the last near the border before Turkey. It was the only place people getting injured from bombings in nearby cities could go; Alattar said wounded resisters can't go to government hospitals because they'll be killed. Doctors, dentists and engineers who chose to stay in Syria were working at the hospital for free.A young Romanian had driven into Syria with them to visit the hospital, a blue-eyed, blonde-haired man who had delivered three truckloads of water, cleaning supplies and food into Syria the other day."When we got into hospital everybody was like 'Hide this guy! Hide this guy! Don't let him in'" Bitar said. "Everybody was scared for his life because of ISIS. Everyone knows if you are American-looking or Western-looking you are in danger."

The use and abuse of Syrian Christians

 'US President Barack Obama reportedly told a delegation of Eastern Christian patriarchs that the Syrian government “protected Christians in Syria.” Whether he was being sarcastic, or he genuinely believed this to be true, it was a slap in the face for Syrian Christians.

 Most of them believed that the Assad regime and the state’s army would defend them, since they were a minority group that did not create problems for the government.

 But in fact, the regime has been using them to prove to the West that their government is a better option than the opposition. Attacking, kidnapping and killing Christians in Syria has always made headlines in Western media.

 The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child released a report last year, which revealed that ISIS was systematically killing, torturing, raping, beheading, crucifying, and burying alive children and families from the Yazidi sect and Christian communities.

 This was terrible news for the Western world, but great news for the Iranian-Syrian alliance. News like this proves their propagandizing that the Syrian rebels, as a whole, are barbaric jihadists who want to eliminate all groups except Sunnis. Where the Nusra Front failed, ISIS succeeded.

 The West is terrified, and that is what both groups wanted from the beginning. The abuse of Christians is a great marketing strategy for both the Islamic State and the Syrian-Iranian alliance. The Islamic State proves to fanatics worldwide that massacring Christians is possible, and they also entice other affiliated groups to do the same. The Syrian-Iranian alliance can also grin, because this way, they prove to the West that they’re the “better choice.”
After all, the massacre of 10 children in Ratyan didn’t make such big waves.'

‘Chicago girl’ leads Syrian Revolution from Des Plaines to Damascus

 “If you go to that country, it’s painfully obvious that there is a deliberate strategy on behalf of the regime to pick off moderate opposition and sort of let ISIS do its thing. It’s totally relevant that ISIS has killed more members of the opposition than of the regime. They are truly despised within the country, as is the Assad regime. It’s tremendously obvious that this was a part of the strategy from the get-go. A lot of the people in ISIS are people that Assad released from prison at the very beginning of the uprising.

 There’s this misconception that America is providing some weapons to the rebels, but it’s a lot more of situations like machine guns being put together with bicycle parts, things like that. The equipment that people have is not really state of the art in the opposition, whereas the regime has equipment and jets from Hezbollah, from Iran. It’s like a rag-tag, disorganized rebel force up against a state-of-the-art army.”

It is Time for an Arab Strategy

 'Here, it is important to remember that at the same time that Israel and Iran compete for a place closer to Washington’s ears and interests, the Arabs are in a lose–lose situation. If Obama wins this battle then the real victor will be Iran. While if the pro-Netanyahu Republicans in the US Congress emerge victorious their victory will be nothing more than a victory for the hard-line Israeli right-wing.As far as Iran’s strategy is concerned, it has never been clearer than it is today. 

 It is now obvious who has been preventing the emergence of a truly sovereign and united post-Saddam Iraq, particularly during the long term of former prime minister Nuri Al-Maliki. Iran’s hegemony over Iraq can now be seen not only in the methodical sectarian cleansing in several areas of Iraq, but also in the active combat role that has been entrusted to the Tehran-led Iraqi sectarian militias inside Syria. What is ironic is that these militias, as well as the Iraqi regular armed forces—built by Tehran and Washington—are mostly sitting out the continuing battles against ISIS, leaving this task to the Sunni Arab tribes of western Iraq. All the while, Iran is presenting itself to the West as being its main ally in the fight against extremist terrorism.

 It is vital that Turkey should now actively help to save what can still be saved of both Syria and Iraq, where tentative partition maps are all but ready.'

Syria kicks out 2 UN staff trying to arrange aid deliveries

 Assad will let nothing interfere with his war on civilians.

 'The Syrian government expelled two key U.N. humanitarian staffers because of their contact with armed opposition groups while trying to arrange aid deliveries.'

Elon forum tackles Syria, extremists and ISIS

 'Khalil said that the Syrian government also supported ISIS when it was first formed as an attempt to deter former President George W. Bush from invading Syria while American armed forces were fighting in Iraq. The Syrian government released people from their jails during that time who went eventually to be trained at ISIS training camps, according to Khalil. Khalil said the current Syrian government’s attention is toward fighting the moderate opposition groups as opposed to fighting against ISIS. The moderate opposition forces would have benefited greatly in 2012-13 if an external force had provided support at that time, Korkor said. The current military air campaigns led by the United States in the region haven’t met expectations on the ground. “It’s a very messy situation.” '

ISIS is proof that the 14-year 'war on terror' has been a catastrophic failure

 'I tried to book a flight to Baghdad on the same efficient European airline that I had used a year earlier. I was told it had discontinued flights to the Iraqi capital, because it feared that insurgents had obtained shoulder-held anti-aircraft missiles originally supplied to anti-Assad forces in Syria and would use them against commercial aircraft flying into Baghdad International Airport. Western support for the Syrian opposition may have failed to overthrow Assad, but it has been successful in destabilizing Iraq, as Iraqi politicians had long predicted.'

 A series of lies from Cockburn's new book. Cockburn's sectarian friends in the Shia political establishment in Iran may claim that funding Syria's opposition is what has destabilised Iraq, but there never were any anti-aircraft missiles supplied to the Syrian opposition by the US. Quite the opposite, they prevented other states from providing the means to protect civilians from Assad's barrel bomb attacks, which would have slowed the flow of refugees from Syria and the actual destabilisation of neighbouring countries, because the Americans were worried that Syrians would be less interested in defending their communities than attacking Israeli airliners.*This is before we even consider that a people being murdered in their hundreds of thousands, with the help of billions of dollars of Russian weaponry and tens of thousands of Iranian troops should have any attempt to defend themselves seen as the problem.

 Cockburn claims that Joe Biden's (that's the same Vice-President Cockburn was recently sourcing the claim that Turkey and Saudi Arabia back ISIS) claim that ISIS and al-Nusra dominate the Syrian opposition means that there is no moderate opposition to receive the $500 million that Obama has promised. And promised, not delivered. An unidentified spook tells us that ISIS can get hold of weapons going to the FSA. This is propaganda, empty of facts. And Cockburn wraps up with the repetition of the lies that it was the attempt by the US to overthrow Assad that destabilised Syria, that the Gulf nations had to be stopped by the US from supporting jihadis in Syria (eliding between anti-Assad groups and ISIS, implying any support really helps the latter), that Assad's control of the centre of most provinces meant he always had the country behind him, that the mass murder of Sunnis by Assad and his Iranian patrons has nothing to do with support for ISIS.

 'It was the US, Europe, and their regional allies in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and United Arab Emirates that created the conditions for the rise of ISIS. They kept the war going in Syria, though it was obvious from 2012 that Assad would not fall. He never controlled less than thirteen out of fourteen Syrian provincial capitals and was backed by Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah.Nevertheless, the only peace terms he was offered at the Geneva II peace talks in January 2014 was to leave power. He was not about to go, and ideal conditions were created for ISIS to prosper. The US and its allies are now trying to turn the Sunni communities in Iraq and Syria against the militants, but this will be difficult to do while these countries are convulsed by war.'

*'The American government became involved, the former American official said, in part because there was a sense that other states would arm the rebels anyhow. The C.I.A. role in facilitating the shipments, he said, gave the United States a degree of influence over the process, including trying to steer weapons away from Islamist groups and persuading donors to withhold portable antiaircraft missiles that might be used in future terrorist attacks on civilian aircraft.'[http://claysbeach.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/benghazi.html]

The myth of a political solution in Syria

 I think this piece accurately explains where each state stands, even if I disagree somewhat with the motivation imputed; I think Iran's intransigence is due to the amount they've invested in maintaining control in Syria rather than doctrinal insanity, similarly Assad can't go and allow a democratic transition not just because of megalomania, but because the country is now so signed over to Tehran that any compromise that threatens their influence is unacceptable. That the other neighbours want a solution rather than the myth that they want to encourage jihadis to destabilise Syria is on the mark as is the UN's abandonment of the problem. Similarly I think empowering the Free Syrian Army is a better solution than foreign intervention, however well intentioned.


 'If the Western countries do not feel the imminent danger that will result from the continued killing and destruction in Syria and are not suffering from the lack of a political solution and decisive military action, this does not apply to the Arab countries or to Turkey; the latter is living in the eye of the storm. This is either because the national security of these countries is suffering from serious threats resulting from the collapse of the Syrian state and the control of Tehran and the Revolutionary Guard forces (which are using Syria as a platform for aggression and pressure against its neighbours), or because of the political and humanitarian projections of the Syrian crisis on them. The Arab countries should not stand idly by and wait for the cancer of violence and fascism to spread; that is not in their best interest. They must make a move and force the UN and the rest of the world to stand behind them in order to defend their national interests and the interests of their people.'

US should use radar to warn civilians of barrel bombs

 “If we could only get warning that the planes were coming, we could warn families, tell people to run from the markets, get the children out of the schools, let the medical centers know so that they can take cover. Every airport in the world has this technology – it is common, it is civilian. Why can’t they share it with us?”

How the Assad Regime Wins the Propaganda War

 'At the end of the day, a Western journalist cannot do much fact checking, since traveling to Syria is far too dangerous, right?If the latter assertion is true, the former is false. There is a steady stream of daily information and years of footage that has come out of Syria. There are still trusted media activists who can do the fact-checking for journalists. However, that takes effort amid lots of noise and few clear signals. Far easier, facing a deadline, to take the easy route and grab a dramatic if often unsupported assertion from the monitoring group, Syrian State media, or the Islamic State.

 So Syrian rebels, communities, local coordination committees, and individuals — who four years ago had high hopes about world-wide media coverage and took great personal risks to support journalists reporting on the Syrian Revolution — do not reach out any more. They are disappointed and frustrated by a world and a media who, after the hype of the early months, forgot about the mass killing that the Assad regime still commits each day — a world and a media who turned away from the 11 to 12 million Syrians, 50% of the pre-conflict population, displaced when a dictator declared war on his people.'

Syrian regime, allies lose decisive battles in Aleppo

 'The opposition seemed defiant. Abu Bakr told Al-Monitor that in the town of Ratyan “de Mistura is no longer an honest negotiator,” in reference to de Mistura’s statement that Assad is part of the solution in Syria.

 He added, “The regime’s plan has failed, and it has lost 300 soldiers on the various Aleppo fronts in two days. … The land, on which we are standing now, will be a grave for anyone who tries to invade it.” During our tour in Ratyan, new reinforcements for the rebels were continually arriving, while the remaining men of the town took up arms to defend their homes against the regime forces and Hezbollah. A resident of the town said that what is happening is an Iranian attempt, in cooperation with Hezbollah and the regime, to occupy their lands. The civil defense forces discovered 34 civilians who were executed by the regime and foreign militias before their withdrawal from the town. This can only be explained as a sectarian massacre.'

More Syrian Horror: Aiming at Doctors and Hospitals

 'To the Editor:

 While we applaud your Feb. 21 front-page article about the complex and horrific war of images being fought in Syria on all sides (“Children, Caged for Effect, to Mimic Imagery of ISIS”), we are working with American humanitarian groups to raise awareness of another horror being committed in Syria by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad: the targeted killing of Syrian doctors and the targeted destruction of Syrian hospitals, preventing crucial medical aid to suffering Syrians.

 We believe that these are war crimes and crimes against humanity under international law, and call on world leaders and the United Nations to use whatever means necessary to bring the immediate cessation of these outrageous acts. Civil society ignores these crimes at its own peril.'

Why Bashar Assad Won’t Fight ISIS

 'The regime fears the Free Syrian Army and the Nusra Front, not ISIS. They [the FSA and Nusra] state their goal is to remove the President. But ISIS doesn’t say that. They have never directly threatened Damascus. If the regime were serious about getting rid of ISIS, they would have bombed Raqqa by now. Instead they bomb other cities, where the FSA is strong. The more powerful ISIS grows, the more they are useful for the regime. They make America nervous, and the Americans in turn see the regime as a kind of bulwark against ISIS.'

Ignoring the orphans of Syria’s uprising

 'Many were duped by the Syrian regime’s manipulation of the war narrative and its claim to be fighting against Islamist extremism. This no doubt contributed to the doubts we are witnessing today with regard to the humanitarian tragedy in Syria. And it surely explains why Assad, who by any standard should be on trial for crimes against humanity and war crimes, is still accorded minimal respect.

 But overall the situation leaves a bitter taste. Some victims, it seems, are more equal than others. The Syrian population has endured frightful suffering in the past three years. That the world still has difficulty acknowledging this is profoundly unsettling, even intolerable.'

The Syrian Revolution from Kafranabel

 "From Daraa to Aleppo, a new dawn will rise, a path towards victory will be traced and heroics will be written in golden water."

Qatar’s Message to Obama

 'We believe that the battle against violent extremism will succeed only if the people of the region are convinced that we are committed to ending the tyrannical rule of the likes of Bashar al-Assad of Syria, who is carrying out genocide against his own people.'

Assad ‘dropping chemical barrel bombs’

 'Details have emerged of fresh attacks in which President Assad is suspected to have used chemical weapons against civilians only weeks after investigators confirmed that chlorine gas had been dropped from helicopters on to three Syrian villages last year.

 On Saturday the civil defence team in Aleppo province reported that a barrel bomb containing a noxious gas had been dropped on Hayan, northwest of Aleppo. Three people were taken to hospital with severe injuries after inhaling the gas. Doctors treating them said their symptoms were consistent with the effects of a choking agent.'

De Mistura’s Syria Plan Risks ‘Another Srebrenica’

 'The outside backers of the rebel forces are not interested in dealing any military blow to Assad because their whole strategy is to keep the status quo as much as they can. The best example of that is the city of Daraa. These backers never supported any potential rebel move to take over the city although it could have been the first capital city of a governorate to fall into the hands of the FSA, which could have made of Daraa a model and built an alternative administration.

 The downfall of Daraa would have undercut Assad’s prestige and claim of military prowess but the powers supporting the opposition in the south – mainly the United States, Jordan and the Gulf Arab states are satisfied with the status quo.

 Since the beginning of the revolt, the West has made statements on the need for Assad to go without taking any serious steps to act on these words, and that was before the emergence of Al-Qaeda and the so-called Islamic State. Now containing the militant jihadists have become the priority, covering up for lack of strategy to deal with Assad in the first place. At the same time, Russia has ensured that Assad’s military machine is well supplied through Syria’s Mediterranean ports and the regime has had a clear strategy of targeting civilian areas to subdue the opposition.'

Chechen Man Convicted Of Fighting In Syria Has Sentence Slashed

 'Mazhaeyev also argued that he had returned to Chechnya after becoming disillusioned with "jihad" in Syria, where he had gone to "defend Muslims" against the Assad government.It is also not clear which group Mazhayev fought with. Some reports said that Mazhyaev fought with the Free Syrian Army (FSA), which is very unlikely to be the case, as there are no known cases of people from the North Caucasus fighting with any of the local Syrian groups operating under the umbrella of the FSA.'

 This is the No True Scotsman* fallacy. He can't have been fighting with the Free Syrian Army, because anyone who goes to Syria to fight Assad must be some sort of mad jihadi. A version of this is how the Western Left writes off the Syrian struggle. The link is from Radio Free Europe, who don't seem to be doing a very good job of carrying on some CIA mission to back radical Islamists against the axis of resistance and Assad's secular government, because none of those things are real. The picture they use to illustrate this story is of course of ISIS fighters, not any of the groups fighting Assad Mazhaeyev might have joined.
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman]

A Lose-Lose in Aleppo

 'De Mistura’s New York briefing coincided with a large-scale regime offensive to fully encircle Aleppo from the north. Regular military units, the paramilitary auxiliaries of the National Defense Force, and Hezbollah fighters sought to press their advantage in the areas of Handarat and Malaah, north of the city, with the intention of seizing three important villages and breaking rebel groups’ siege of the Shiite towns of Zahra and Nubl. Controlling these villages and connecting roads would sever the links between the Aleppo countryside and the vitally important border with Turkey.

 But the initially rapid advance of the pro-regime forces was stopped and rolled back in several areas. Bad weather grounded Assad’s helicopters and aircraft during much of the battle — overcast weather, a rebel commander quipped to me, imposed the no-fly zone that the Americans had denied the rebellion since 2011. After capturing important territory in surprise attacks over two days, Assad’s forces were surrounded by Syrian rebels who killed well over 100 soldiers and captured dozens more, making this time among the costliest days for the regime since the beginning of the armed uprising.In reality, U.N. mediation efforts in Syria are doomed under current circumstances. Lacking enforcement mechanisms, they perversely play into Assad’s hands while not delivering the hoped-for humanitarian returns. Only when they are accompanied by a resolute effort to put Assad’s continued rule on the line will they hold a chance of success. It may well be time to reconsider the much-debated, if long-eschewed, Turkish proposal for an air exclusion zone and safe zones in northern Syria.'

New Spate of Barrel Bomb Attacks

 'One of the doctors treating wounded Syrians from Daraa in a hospital in Amman told Human Rights Watch in late 2014 that women and children make up two-thirds of the victims they receive and that most were being injured by fragments of explosive weapons.'

Hezbollah in the eyes of Sunni Syrians

 'From the outset of the Syrian revolution, Hezbollah gave the Assad regime propaganda backing, seeking to justify the murder of peaceful protesters. Hezbollah likes to talk about a foreign conspiracy, I say yes there is one but against the Syrian people – not against Assad, Hezbollah or Iran.

 From the very beginning, the West and its supporters were involved to make sure that no credible Syrian Islamist power takes over from Assad. They may to talk to one group or fund another, but the end aim was never to topple Assad. The aim was that if Assad was eventually going to be overthrown in the uprising then no respectable Islamist group would replace him. They can live with Assad, with Hezbollah and Iran inside Syrian borders - but they can't have moderate Islamists becoming too strong.'

Forget About Arming the Opposition?

 'Had the Obama administration decided in the summer of 2012 that real support for mainstream Syrian rebels facing a criminal regime and a growing al-Qaeda presence was worth providing, it is hard to imagine that, in early 2015, the region and the world would be facing the possibility and the consequences of Syria divided between two mass murdering entities. Instead, the administration fought the looming threat with talking points. It did so while Iran and Russia enabled a humanitarian abomination, while private Gulf donors sent sacks of money to al-Qaeda terrorists and anti-Assad regional powers competed to divide and dominate the Syrian nationalist opposition, armed and unarmed. Washington was consciously AWOL.'

Syrian regime’s crackdown pre-planned

 'How can Syrians forget the famous statement from the presidential palace: “Assad remains, or the country will be torched!” High-level Syrian officials had already decided to crush the revolution in the same manner as the Green revolution was crushed in Iran.

 Again, it became clear a month after the revolution began that the security forces’ warning, “We are ready to face the plot,” meaning to crush the revolution by any means, was contained in Assad’s statement.

 Those who are calling for a political solution to the Syrian crisis are doing so now because the “crushing the revolution” project has failed miserably and they have no other alternative after tasting defeat. Whoever negotiates with Assad will be doing him a favour and giving him an opportunity to end this dilemma.

 Let’s not forget that the Syrian regime and its allies wanted to crush the revolution from day one. They opted for a military solution and failed; why help them out now?'

The Regime's Restructuring of Syrian Society

 'The Syrian opposition’s armed resistance emerged as self-defense in response to the regime's heinous crimes against the Syrian people.

 Most young men arrested by Assad’s forces are executed in security branches and prisons, as the regime fears their influence upon release. A significant number of cases sees detainees die under torture or are left permanently disabled for this very reason.'

We Will Reach Damascus

 "We are fighting to defend our freedom, to liberate our country from all foreign powers and to prevent fear from ruling us again – whether under the banner of the regime or extremist forces."

Keeping the Faith in Syria's Rebels

 'Um Mohammed remained as steadfast as ever. We keep in touch, and her heart still rejoices at each bullet or shell she hears being fired by the revolutionaries. The sounds make her feel that they are close by. She still awaits their return, and ours too.'

Deadly rifts hit ISIS ranks in Syria

 “The IS group is even afraid of sending their gunmen on missions and patrols outside Manbij. Those militants, who are supposed to perform military missions and come back to their bases, mostly do not return, as in the recent cases in IS-held Amarna and Jazira checkpoints on the road to Jarablus.”

Residents of Idlib town protest to force Nusra out

 "We want Jabhat a-Nusra to leave, entirely, from the village and from the area in general, as well as the brigades loyal to Nusra. We've grown tired of their false and unjust laws that they claim seek their guidance from God's law. We want the return of the rule of the honorable FSA, because they don't storm our houses, nor rob us, nor act brutally against us in the name of religion."

Why Bashar Assad Failed where His Father Succeeded

 Munzer Eid al-Zamalkani:

 'The uprising in 2011 gained momentum through public support as it ignited a popular cause, which was the torture of Daraa’s children. It responded to the people’s political, social, and economic grievances, and was also influenced by the waves of revolutions in the region.

 By 2011 the Arab Spring demonstrated the changing of people’s consciousness in the region. Those revolutions derived their power from breaking the wall of fear that had been instilled in the people for long decades. The slogan ‘death rather than life in humiliation’ had been absent or forgotten for a long time, so Bashar Assad could not teach the Syrians the “lesson for one hundred years.”

 In fact, it was the people of the uprising who taught the world lessons in determination and lessons in sacrifice.Bashar Assad, did not realize the changes in the people’s consciousness and underestimated the power of their will. Moreover, he relied on a sectarian strategy to crush the uprising, so the role of the Baath ideology was inoperative in this war. Consequently, Bashar Assad not only failed to suppress the uprising, but in fact, he fueled a vicious and lengthy sectarian conflict in the region that could change the shape of the whole Middle East.'

Evidence of new Syrian regime massacre north of Aleppo

 "It is unconscionable that Syrians should continue to suffer as they have for the last four years and have to live in a world where only limited attempts have been made to return Syria to peace, and to seek justice for the victims."

How ISIS is funded

 'Unlike the core al-Qaeda terrorist network, ISIS gets only a small share of funding from deep-pocket donors and therefore does not depend primarily on moving money across international borders.In its most recent report on ISIS’s funding, RBSS outlines ten ways the militants fund their crusade to create a Muslim caliphate.

 The group claims that ISIS and the Syrian government has struck a secret deal which enables the militants to sell electricity and gas to the Assad regime.'

80-year-old woman is rescued from rubble in Aleppo

 Aleppo is besieged by the government, not by 'violent battles between government and rebel forces'.

Suicide bomber kills four in Assad clan's hometown

 The big lie of the last three years is that Western public opinion has been moulded by our governments to support an attack on the Assad régime.

 As we can see with this Guardian story, the truth is the other way round. The headline is that four people have died in a suicide bombing, which we associate with Islamist terrorism, although two of the four dead are régime soldiers. The news that Assad has killed 48 people including 10 children for being related to rebels is relegated to a subheading. The news that the rebels have re-taken all the territory in the régimes abortive offensive around Aleppo is buried in the story, though with figures suggesting approximately similar casualties on both sides, rather than the video backed evidence* that 300, mostly Afghan and Iranian mercenaries were killed by the rebels and 100 captured in a significant victory.

 Meanwhile over at the Independent**, Patrick Cockburn continues to spread confusion. He claims that the chief of staff of the Kurdish president is saying that the Gulf States are funding ISIS just as they were the opposition in Syria, but it's all Cockburn trying to blame the states when it could be private donors with no connection to the government that are being alleged, and it is Cockburn who is claiming that the other rebel groups have all been swallowed up by Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS. The Independent has a much more sensible piece by Heather Saul*** on how ISIS is shooting itself in the foot, rather than interviewing mates from the Iraqi parliament, she reports the words of an anti-ISIS and anti-Assad activist from Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently. Incidentally, ISIS have banned mobile phones. How is any sort of modern economy supposed to exist when there is no communication?

 What is all over the news in the UK is that three girls have gone out to join ISIS. If it hadn't been for Assad's atrocities there would be no support for ISIS, if it hadn't been for the abandonment of the opposition to Assad.

 There were also reports of another chemical attack, this time against Hayyan in Northern Aleppo, and pictures of Aleppo residents demonstrating their support for the rebels with a Free Syrian flag, but that's not news in the main media narrative.

*[https://x.com/RamiSafadi93/status/568902770331414528]
**[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-has-made-many-enemies-but-it-may-be-saved-by-their-inability-to-unite-10061739.html]
***[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-infighting-tensions-rise-over-use-of-yazidi-sex-slaves-loss-of-kobani-and-poor-services-in-areas-controlled-by-group-10061457.html]

Children Caged to Mimic Imagery of ISIS

 ' “I’m very sorry to get to this point, to use the kids,” said Mr. Abdulrahman, who uses a nom de guerre for security. “But this is the fact. Our kids are getting killed every day, every moment, getting under the wreckage.”

 Broadcast specifically to frighten and manipulate, the Islamic State’s flamboyant violence consumes the world’s attention while more familiar threats, like the Syrian government’s barrel bombs, kill far more but rarely provoke global outrage.

 A few human rights advocates and antigovernment activists in Syria are creating shocking if nonviolent images and videos — even herding children in orange jumpsuits into a cage — to call attention to the wider scope of violence. So far, though, their voices have hardly been heard.

 While the Islamic State’s provocations draw pronounced reactions, however, the less-choreographed slaughter that has killed, for instance, more than 200,000 Syrians fades to the background. Those bearing the brunt of the Syrian war’s spillover across the region, and humanitarian workers trying to assist, frequently express anguish that government bombings, the displacement of more than a third of the population and the gutting of the health care system do not bring similar attention — let alone dramatic action.'