Syrian rebel put his dreams on hold in civil war

 "I'm happy with the battles and the people I've gotten to know," Qadi said. "These are the best moments of my life."

Fighting Shortages, Syrian Civilians Take Reins in Rebel Areas

 “The old people think Bashar Assad is very strong and he will never leave,” he said. “But we think they are not thinking the right way, because we see every day that he is vanishing and going away.”

The victory of the revolution takes two revolutions

 “The victory of the revolution takes two revolutions: One against the regime strangling freedom, another against those awaiting its victory to steal.”

Syrian rebels advance despite regime attacks

 'It is stopping the Islamic resistance, not the success of the revolution, which preoccupies US policy on Syria.

 Many Syrians feel abandoned and have little faith in any outside help. They point out that the Assad regime receives a steady supply of weapons, cash and fuel from Russia and Iran, while they are subject to a weapons embargo.

 This is why many revolutionaries have welcomed the Islamist brigades as allies, even if they do not share their vision of a future Syria.

 One rebel commander said, “We can thank god that we are indebted to no one.” '

Was Syria ever the secular, non-sectarian state we are led to believe it was?

 'For provincial types, "secular" has come to mean flashy, worldly, corrupt and finally brutal, and for them Sharia means a more honest and decent society, as much as anything else. This is not a good thing – I wouldn't want to be an ambitious young woman growing up in Syria today, or one of the many perfectly decent, god-fearing middle-aged Muslim men I know who like a quiet tipple of Scotch before bedtime – but they will be victims of the dictators' dishonesty and refusal to reform as much as of Saudi fundamentalists.'

Syria democracy in action defies dangers in Deir Ezzor

 ' "We want a democratic state, not an Islamic state. We want a secular state run by civilians, not by mullahs," he said.
Free Syrian Army rebel fighters were forbidden from taking part in the vote.

 "It is an opportunity for civilians to have their say. We soldiers must fight against regime, that's our job," said Abu Obeida, a rebel commander.'

Arts Of Revolution

 "I cut the missile at its end, and emptied the cluster bombs inside it."

Zaatari refugees torn between revolution, security

 “When we left Syria five months ago the Free Syrian Army had a shortage of arms. Had we stayed in Syria, we would have been a burden,” he said.

 “Now, they have got the weapons. I can join their ranks to fight against the oppressive regime.”

Syria’s Agony: Situation and Outlook, Winter 2013

 'The country’s naturally diverse, cosmopolitan culture means that after regime collapse the street crowds will probably reappear amid the rubble demanding the pluralism and non-sectarianism they endorsed in 2011. There are good reasons to suppose that the Islamists and their agenda will swiftly deflate among a people that will have paid so much for a new dawn. The outlook, however, will darken with perpetuation of the agony.'

London Event: 'Syria Through a Lens' Screening (28 February 2013)

 'Syria Through a Lens highlights the life, activism, and films of the late Syrian filmmaker Bassel Shahade. On 28 May 2012, Bassel was killed during a government assault on Homs, where he had been filming the aftermath of the violence in Houla.'

Omar Aziz: Rest in Power

 'He was not a son of the Facebook generation, but at the age of 63, his enthusiasm, ambition, and swashbuckling energy were matched by none of the twenty-somethings on the scene.

 At a time when many activists were forced to flee, he chose to relinquish his safety in the United States and return to Syria to participate in the popular uprising that has swept through the country.

 At a time when most anti-imperialists were wailing over the collapse of the Syrian state and the “hijacking” of a revolution they never supported in the first place, Aziz and his comrades were tirelessly striving for unconditional freedom from all forms of despotism and state hegemony.'

Syria's strategic stalemate, made worse by US inaction

 'Not only is the Obama administration no longer convinced that Syria's armed rebellion is about to topple President Bashar Al Assad, a rebel military victory does not even appear to be Washington's preferred outcome.'

A Botched Mass Defection

 'There were 23 officers in our unit, and 20 of them were Alawites. The Alawites didn’t consult the colonel, a Sunni, on security matters. They didn’t trust us.'

The country formerly known as Syria

 Underclass meaning workers and peasants. An interesting point, which it would be nice to have expanded on.

 'A hardened and increasingly sectarian underclass on each side—disenfranchised mainly Sunni rebels and the regime’s mainly poor Alawites—is bearing the brunt of the battle. Middle-class Syrians and secular activists are leaving in droves.

 The uprising, which is now a full-blown civil war between Mr Assad’s forces and the opposition, has brought new freedoms. Young Syrians are no longer afraid to deride the regime openly. Even within the security forces, people discuss politics. “We all say things we wouldn’t have dared talk about in our own homes before,” says Aisha, a mother of four from Idleb province, in the north-west. Neighbourly bonds have sometimes grown strong amid the bloodshed. Altruistic bravery is common. Women risk their lives to smuggle medicine to rebel areas through the regime’s checkpoints, because the soldiers are less likely to search them. In Damascus people sleep ten to a room, welcoming relations who have fled from more dangerous areas.'

The death of a country

 'Russia supports Mr Assad in part to frustrate Mr Obama. Europe and America should keep on trying to tempt it to give him up, by promising it a stake in a liberated Syria.'

 The editors of the Economist want Assad gone which is good; but think the Syrian people aren't capable of making their own choices, and an imperialist carve-up would be a way to go, a strategy with which I can see problems.

West lacks will to arm Syrian rebels

 'The (understandably) hesitant policy of the west now ensures that the Assad regime it wants out, and the jihadis whose advance it wants to block, are the only ones with a reliable supply of arms, while the more or less mainstream rebels it purports to back keep running out of ammunition.

 Russia and Iran provide real support to the Assads, and Saudi Arabia and Qatar channel resources to the jihadis and Muslim Brotherhood respectively. The military council created by the National Coalition as a condition for international recognition has little means to establish authority in rebel ranks – and therefore much diminished ability to attract either regime defectors or fighters that now flock to the black banners of the jihadis.'

The myth of Palestinian neutrality in Syria

 'To claim that they are “used by both sides” is a profound insult to the Palestinians who freely chose to protest against the Syrian regime. Such a claim suggests that anti-regime Palestinians have no free will or autonomy.'

Syrian couple overcomes sectarian differences

 "I'm the only Alawite here, but people don't think I'm different from others, because we are one country, and one nation."

Local Family Rallying For Syria

 The face of American imperialism.

Russia Ends Sales Of Weapons To Syria

 “That's pretty inconsiderate. What’s the Syrian army supposed to kill people with now?”

Having Gone This Far Without Caring About Syria, Nation To Finish What It Started

 'According to a recent poll, 85 percent of Americans said they actually care less about Syria now than they did at the outset of the country’s antigovernment protests; 57 percent admitted to almost caring after they learned of the systematic rape of thousands of Syrian women by troops, but said they “were still going to see this whole not-caring thing through”; and 30 percent said that while they acknowledge the conflict is a major human rights issue, they will forge ahead with their cold-blooded lack of compassion purely for the sake of consistency, and also because they “honestly and truly don’t give a shit.” '

Syrian Revolution

 'The one time I ran into a Syrian state TV reporter in downtown Damascus, she was doing street interviews on the pressing issue of “Which fruits and vegetables do you freeze so you can eat them out of season.” Which was all the more surreal as I saw smoke billowing up on the horizon.'

Life in battleground town of al-Safira

 'In a pattern familiar across Syria, rebel fighters advanced into the town, the government responded with massive indiscriminate bombardment and those who could get out, did.'

Back from hell, back from Syria

 ' "Assad is going to fall, no doubt. The question is if Europe wants to be on the right side of history in order to limit the killings and play a role in the reconstruction afterwards?"
Today this question remains poignant.

 We can still play a role, limit the casualties and help to build a secular/non-sectarian Syria. The task is not even that difficult.

 We should give humanitarian aid directly to the liberated areas and we should give anti-aircraft defences to the FSA. It is the only way to support the right people in this conflict and to help non-combatant Syrians to survive.'

Harlem Shake For Syria

 "While thousands shake mindlessly, Assad kills Syrians senselessly."

Fawaz Gerges And Rosemary Hollis In Conversation With Robin Yassin-Kassab

 Robin Yassin-Kassab:

 "Because the word intervention was mentioned, I'd just like to say, in my opinion, that as far as I can see, this has been a massive diversion, it's the hugest red herring of the whole conflict; the Syrian National Council in the beginning seemed to put all its eggs into the basket of a foreign military intervention, leftists vehemently opposed the foreign military intervention, the régime spoke in paranoid tones about the military intervention as if that was what it was all about, it wasn't about a revolution; and I think they're all missing the point, because it's a misjudgement of the West, the fact that it's just got into two silly wars in Middle East and Muslim countries, the West doesn't have money; I don't think that intervention has ever been on the cards - it may come in the future, if things get so desperate for the rest of the world, because of what's happening in Syria, it may have to come at some point, but at the moment, and in the past, as far as I can see, it's never been on the cards, we waste time by talking about it, hoping for it, or by dreading it."

How to Start a Battalion (in Five Easy Lessons)

 "Why are the Americans doing this to us? They told us they wouldn’t send us weapons until we united. So we united in Doha. Now what’s their excuse? They say it’s because of the jihadis but it’s the jihadis who are gaining ground."

Time and Questions

 Razan Ghazzawi:

 'People don’t ask me what’s happening in Syria, I love people who ask these questions, but I despise people who come to me and look me in the eye and ask me to ease their worries from, umm, “imperialist agendas,” from “Islamists,” and from “FSA violations of human rights.” People like these don’t genuinely want to learn, they just want to “chit-chat” about my pain. The pain that lives in me day and night, I remember Lina’s voice coming from the other side, “I am tired, Razan,” and I know that when she says that, it means that she really, really, can’t take it anymore.

 Questions. People have questions. I get that. But don’t come and tell me you’re in solidarity with our revolution. People in solidarity would first open a discussion with questions like: “how is your family and friends?” or “what can I do to help?” before you come and dictate me how we should be “worried” about your definition of a “successful revolution.”

 People in solidarity are easy to feel, they’re compassionate and would listen more than talk, you on the other hand, intellectual, are a waste of my painful time.'

Max Boot and Martin A Miller's books about warfare

 'In Syria, the problem is not Islamist blowback but the west’s active support for the Islamist insurgents. Almost certainly, the result will be a longer, bloodier war, possibly spreading throughout the region, in which Syria becomes one more failed state or else a hostile fundamentalist regime.'

 A shorter war might occur if the West actually armed the insurgents. Professors of European Thought can be such idiots sometimes.

Lasting scars of Syria's assault on Baba Amr

 'The whole world watched while we were butchered," said Ahmed Idriss, an aid worker in Arsal and a refugee himself.

 Of course, we blame the international community for that. But it doesn't really matter now: we don't expect help from them any longer. Now we put our faith in God and in the Free Syrian Army.

 Mohammed Jomaa: "We still have good relations with many of the Alawites, and some of them are even passing information about the checkpoints to the rebels." '

Syria finds means of financial survival

 'Almost two years after the Syrian uprising began, Damascus is funding its state structures and war machine thanks to assistance from Moscow and Tehran, dwindling commodity exports and taxes – and the opportunities the war economy offers to make and seize cash.

 “You can see pressure building up on the regime but you don’t actually get to the collapse,” said David Butter, a Middle East finance specialist at Chatham House, the London-based think-tank. “There is enough circulation in parts of the economy to keep things going.” '



 Central Damascus slowly succumbs to war

 'It was once thought that puncturing the bubble of normalcy in Damascus would strengthen opposition to the regime. But increasingly armed rebels, often referred to as the Free Syrian Army (FSA), are accused of looting and acting with disregard for the populations they are supposed to be fighting for.'
[https://www.ft.com/content/2e854122-6fcc-11e2-956b-00144feab49a]

Desperate for Fuel, Syrians Chop Down National Forest

 Haiti lost what was left of its forests the same way.

Belaid’s stance on the Syrian revolution

 'A person who finished their revolt to find themself confronting Islamists and their rule, like the situation is in Tunisia and Egypt, is not the same as he who is still engaged in a revolution and attempting to find means of consensus among parties that are fighting a mutual enemy. This is exactly what the situation in Syria is.'

"Peoples always win over their tyrants. The Syrians are not an exception. Watch your steps."

 Syria Live Coverage: The
Fighting from Damascus to Idlib

 'Bilal Zaiter, a Palestinian refugee, exiled for a second time: "Assad has dried up our souls and nurtured terrorism inside every single Syrian." ' [https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/commentaryanalysis/double-exile]

 "Ahmadinejad did not look like a populist in Egypt, but like a Kissinger-style Realist, willing to sacrifice the Syrian masses to Iran’s hegemonic geopolitical interests in the region." [http://www.juancole.com/.../02/visit-ahmadinejads-egypt.html]

 31st anniversary of the massacre of Hama. [http://doumarevolution.tumblr.com/post/42818972876/31]

The survival of Syria

 'Every Syrian is extremely upset and frustrated about lack of support from the international community, never has a country seen such a disaster, with a regime targeting civilians in full view and the West just sitting by watching, like a spectator.

 Europe and America have used all sorts of excuses for not getting involved in Syria, for example, the lack of a united opposition, but really, the West has no interest in the Syrian uprising.

 More importantly, leaving Syria very weak will service the interests of some neighbouring countries. The regime is destroying its army and draining its supply of fighter jets, and the country will need at least 20 to 25 years to rebuild. Having such a weakened Syria is preferable for Western strategy in the region.'

A Faceless Teenage Refugee Who Helped Ignite Syria’s War

 The same kids who started the revolution in Syria are the armed opposition.

 'His son fled to Jordan about a year ago, where he spent his time looking for work as a day laborer, and dreaming about returning to fight the government in Syria.

 About two months ago, he heard that his cousin who wrote the graffiti and somehow managed to avoid arrest had joined the rebels as a fighter — and had been killed.'

Did the CIA Betray Syria’s Rebels?

 'He then accused America of pushing a dark agenda in Syria—working to keep the war going instead of helping with the overthrow of Assad. “America,” Tlass said, “is trying to prolong the Syrian revolution.” '

How jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra is taking over Syria's revolution

 'One resident said: “I don’t like Jabhat al-Nusra. But I am telling you that, these guys will rule – for a time. It is a matter of how long before us Syrians realise we need to take their destiny in their own hands.” '

Syria's Salma scarred by war

 "They told me they were afraid they'd be persecuted if the regime falls," Mohamed says. "I told them no. We are against the regime, not against Alawites. But whatever I said, they were convinced their fate was tied to that of the regime. Because that's what the Assads have put in their mind."

Inside Rebel-Held Prison in Aleppo

 “As citizens, we cannot deny that the regime has provided safety and security, despite its disadvantages. If the revolution jeopardizes these two factors, perhaps the people will support Assad.”

A war of jihadists and Free Syrian Army

 'The overwhelming majority of the Syrian rebels are defectors from the Syrian army and are young men who revolted against injustice. They are neither jihadists nor Arabs or foreigners from “Qaeda.” If Nusra is really affiliated with “Qaeda,” it will end like all Qaeda organizations did; it will fail. But if it is a Syrian revolutionary group, it will find a place for it among the others.

 What we have to understand is that the FSA is the overwhelming power. It is real and patriotic, and its religious chants must be understood in their context and not considered as ones that agree with “Qaeda’s” mentality. Their chants are like what Christian fighters do in their armies; they draw the cross sign, and like what Jews do; they carry the Torah. It is piety not extremism, and it is normal that most people are pious and expressive of their religion.'

How You Failed Syria!

 'Let me count the ways: you abandoned her when her movement for democratic change was nonviolent. You let Assad violate her and kill her children. You turned your back on her children when they rushed to her rescue, and pretended you were unaware. You uttered words of sympathy and encouragement, and sent few blankets and tents to people who were at the mercy of mortars and MiGs, not only the elements.'

 'While foreign weapons have been seen in Syria, we have not encountered them on this scale. All this suggests a new, organised, and well-funded effort is under way to ensure that "moderate" fighters are capturing territory and weakening the Assad regime.

 It is too early to tell whether there are enough weapons to make a long-term impact. None of them be used as an effective counter to Assad's primary threat, his fighter jets. However, if this is an experiment to see a surge in armament makes a difference, the answer is clear.'

Two Years of Meta-Narratives: How Not to Cover Syria

 'The Revolutionary mocks the piss-poor media coverage of Syria, as he believes deeply in the importance of disseminating leaked naked pictures of Asmaa al-Assad, ridiculously good looking Syrian rebels nuzzling kittens, Bashar wearing different wigs, and other essential topics.'

 Obviously a dog-lover. Here are those kittens again.[http://www.albawaba.com/slideshow/fsa-cats-syria-443002]

 I guess this is Robert Fisk, 'Showing off his Arabic by a generous sprinkling of the words habibi and shabiha in his reporting, as well as his fetishizing and in depth knowledge of political Islam (he once visited a mosque in Pakistan and he follows Mona Eltahawy on Twitter), he is in an ideal position to make rational and enlightened comments on the future of Syria. After providing a more comprehensive overview of the situation of the ground using an embellished version of the amateur’s account, the seasoned journalist concludes his article grimly and definitively: the “Lion of Damascus” and his regime are bad but so is the opposition; Syria is bound to be a repeat of Afghanistan, Lebanon, and the Balkans.'

Kalamazoo residents support Syria's need for humanitarian aid

 'Out of all the Arab Spring revolutions, the Syrian one has received the least international support.'

 They get it in Kalamazoo.

The First Darayya Local Council Press Conference

 'Here it is,when its people were forced to resort to arms,in response to the unlimited brutality of the regime, it is today offering the highest standards of defiance and persistence.'

Hillary Clinton's diplomatic legacy

 Hillary Clinton's getting some credit at the moment for supposedly calling for the arming of Syria's rebels during her time as secretary of state, but why do we only find out now? I think one possible answer is that it just wasn't important to her, because like every other member of the administration, her first priority was always to consider what was best for America, and the business it wants to do.

 The two Hillary-sceptics rip apart the Clinton fan here, who ironically gets most inarticulate when talking about how Hillary articulated her vision. Their focus on the failure of Great Power diplomacy isn't the angle I'd choose, but they make a number of points against the image of Clinton as a humanitarian feminist.

New Syria needs human rights, not payback

 'The US remains handicapped in pressing to bring torturers to justice because President Obama refuses to allow the investigation of Bush officials implicated in torture. The UK has also refused to properly investigate its role in sending two suspects to Gaddafi's Libya, where they were tortured.'

A Rebel Commander in Syria Holds the Reins of War

 ' “America keeps silent,” he said. “The way we see it as Arabs: If you are silent, then you are agreeing with what is happening.”

 Sitting nearby, Abdel-Aziz Salameh, Al Tawhid’s political leader, warned that time was running short for the United States. “All the world has abandoned us,” he said. “If the revolution lasts for another year, you’ll see all the Syrian people like Al Qaeda; all the people will be like Al Qaeda.” '

1982 Hama massacre

 'The events of the Hama massacre began at 2 am on 3 February 1982. An army unit searching the old city "stumbled on the hideout of the local guerilla commander, `Umar Jawwad," (aka Abu Bakr) and were ambushed.'

 'The Syrian army decided to make an example of the civilians of Hama, killing children and adults indiscriminately.'
[http://tinyurl.com/awjl47e]

A letter from a friend in Syria ...

 'We meet the fighters of the Free Syrian Army. Of course we meet them. They sit at the sides of the road and come to greet us on our ways. They are grandfathers, fathers and sons. They are cousins and uncles. They too are students, or workers, or shop owners, or teachers or engineers. At least within this city. They are the ordinary citizens of Maarat.
They too are very upset about the image of them being some sort of Al Qaida. “Where is Al Qaida?” they ask. Joking they add that maybe Al Qaida could actually help them out with the fight at the front only two kilometers away.

 They, just as people before grab us by the shoulders and intensely demand us hearing that they are not fighting an ethnic or religious war. “We have Alewites with us! No Problem! Christians, Sunni, Shia! We were neighbors, friends and sometimes mixed within one family. Jews! We have Jews in Syria, there is no problem, no problem. Al Nizar (-the gouvernments) that’s the problems. Assad, Iran, U.S.A., Israel, that’s the problem. No problem Alewites or Jewish. No problem people.” '

Children take shelter in Roman ruins

 'They must wait for Goliath to be toppled.'

International Aid to Syria … they give us coffins for the victims of Assad’s massacre

From The Revolting Syrian.

One on One: Miriam Elder

 'Their coverage [Russian media] of Syria has been very similar to their coverage of Egypt, to their coverage of Libya, and now starting with their coverage of Mali, that everything that’s happening is part of some greater Western plot to reshape the world in America’s favour. And that’s a friendly view to what Assad would want to present.'