Robert Fisk: Has Recep Tayyip Erdogan gone from model Middle East 'strongman' to tin-pot dictator?

 'That most controversial of American investigative journalists, Seymour Hersh - I confess he is an old mate of mine even though he often uses my most hated phrase, anonymous "officials" and "experts", as his sources - has now published his own disturbing and compelling research on the use of chemicals in Syria and points the finger at Turkey for allowing rebels to use sarin in an earlier chemical attack against the Syrian village of Khan al-Assal.'

 There was no research into the chemicals, just interviews with the likes of the spook who told us Saddam was behind 9/11, and Hersh now claims that the eastern Ghouta attack in August that killed 1500 was by rebels, not just the earlier one. Needless to say, all the other paragraphs in Fisk's piece contain similar untruths.I thought a long while ago that whether to support the Syrian revolution would be a defining question for the future of the left for the next generation, but I didn't imagine there would be those who would disgrace themselves with the denial of atrocities taking place before our eyes.

Syrian sides trade blame over new gas attack

 There are no red lines any more. If there ever were.

 'The Syrian National Coalition, the Western-backed opposition group, said the poison gas attack hurt dozens of people.'

Save Aleppo

 'One of the oldest continuously cities in the world, Aleppo has fallen victim to the worst destruction of any major city in the world since 1945.'

  A bit graphic.

 "Damn him [Assad], just yesterday my husband was killed."

In Syria, residents of Aleppo become inured to air raids

 "We don't take the warplanes seriously anymore," Laila said. "They launch rockets that are precise, but helicopters drop barrel bombs that can destroy dozens of homes with one barrel."

Miliband and the loneliness of a Jewish diaspora politician

 Fucking hypocrite. I've just seen him telling Nick Robinson that he stopped "the drive to war in Syria", hedged around his brother's estimation that Syria is the"defining collective failure of this century so far", and told us that military intervention was not the answer, conflating the vague threats that a few missiles might drop where they wouldn't hurt anyone with a rerun of Iraq. Instead he would rather threaten war with Iran.

 'When asked about Iran, Miliband, who successfully opposed in parliament the government’s plan a retaliatory strike on Syria following the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons says “We never rule out any options” and that we “have no illusions about the (Iranian) regime, we shouldn’t take on trust what they say.”'

 The report also said that the Israeli kids he visited within range of missiles to Gaza were only safe because of the reinforced roof. I did think that one thing that makes them a thousand times safer is not being Palestinian children living in Gaza, but I don't really want to get into the politics of Israel too much.

New Assad poison attack

 I do mean to analyse the place of sarin in political thinking at another time, but thankfully this seems to be something less fatal. Still, how long can this go on, etc.

 'The London Times Friday cited British officials as saying that they were “aware of multiple allegations” of poison gas attacks against opposition forces on the outskirts of the capital.
The Times reported that the regime this time may have been using "toxic industrial substances" to frighten rebels in a way that does not trigger a wide international outcry.

 This week an Israeli defense official said Assad had used chemical weapons again around the capital at the end of March. The Times of Israel reported that "the nonlethal agents were used to incapacitate opposition fighters." '

Syrian regime has not yet won the war

 'Anti-tank missiles are important for the rebels because they allow them to fend off the sophisticated tanks of the regime. But they could also signify a more serious shift. TOW missiles require training to operate, which may mean that the US, which has been holding back from supplying the weapons the rebels need to tip the conflict in their favour, may be reconsidering. If that assumption is correct, the US may also be considering supplying shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles to the rebels. That would allow them to counter the regime’s greatest strength, the airforce. That, if it happened, would be a decisive change.

 Now in its fourth year, the conflict has devastated Syria and made refugees of a third of the country. Yet the resolve of the rebels appears unbroken. Mr Nasrallah is fooling himself if he thinks they are on the run.'

The Assad Regime, Sarin and the Facts

 'After completing its report three weeks later, the UN Report released on September 16 confirmed the use of Sarin gas in Ghouta, saying that it "collected clear and convincing evidence that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent Sarin were used… in the Ghouta area of Damascus."

 Another UN Report released on February 12, 2014 noted that all evidence regarding the August 21 attack "indicated that the perpetrators likely had access to the chemical weapons stockpile of the Syrian military, as well as the expertise and equipment necessary". The inspectors on the ground also identified the surface-to-surface rockets as 140mm BM-14 rockets, which were manufactured in Russia and 330mm rockets manufactured probably by the Syrian army.'

Whose Sarin?

 ' “The Hersh story belies common sense and suggests that Turkey was able to manufacture a ton of sarin - no easy feat - and then smuggle that sarin into Syria,” Aaron Stein, an Associate Fellow at RUSI and the nonproliferation program manager at the Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies in Istanbul, told Islamist Gate.

“That Sarin is then loaded into volcano rockets that were fired from government controlled areas towards rebel positions. As Dan Kaszeta [security and CBRN specialist] has pointed out, there are close correlations in chemistry (such as hexamine, a possible sarin additive) between the trace evidence found in the field and the inventories disclosed by the OPCW [the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons]".

Stein added that therefore “Hersh’s article is at odds with science and common sense and suggests a deeper misunderstanding of Ankara’s Syria policy.” '

Note 6/3/25, Original link broken, probably written by Brian Whittaker.

Hersh and the Red Herring

Aboud Dandachi:

 "I have seen wrecking balls that did not manage to achieve the level of demolition that Mr Kaszeta just inflicted on Seymour Hersh. Whatever his previous exploits, Mr Hersh's reputation and standing have been irreparably damaged by his espousing theories and notions that he just hasn't been able to back up. As Dan Kaszeta pointed out, Mr Hersh ignores every technical obstacle to the idea that the rebels somehow gassed themselves as a PR stunt, in favor of a single source whose validity we have no way whatsoever to judge. Peer review is an important aspect to the validity of any claim. The evidence put forward by experts such as Mr Kaszeta has been scrutinized and analyzed to death, and stood the test of many months of study. In contrast, it is well-nigh impossible to confirm any of Hersh's assertions. A sad end to a previously distinguished journalistic career."

The Syrian Revolution and the Crisis of the Left

 'As Fredric Jameson writes: Villainy in mass culture has been reduced to two lone survivors of the category of evil: these two representations of the truly antisocial are, on the one hand, serial killers and, on the other, terrorists (mostly of the religious persuasion, as ethnicity has become identified with religion, and secular political protagonists like the communists and the anarchists no longer seem to be available).

 The West is increasingly adhering to this concept in the way it sees events in Syria. While
Nusra Front, for example, is recognized as being the most organized and disciplined rebel group in the fight against Assad, it is also classified by the United States as a terrorist organization and is purported to have strong links with al-Qaeda in Iraq.

 In generating a discourse that paints the struggle in Syria as one between two categories of evil—the Assad regime as the serial killer and the armed resistance to it as the terrorist—it essentially affirms the Assad regime’s narrative to the detriment of genuine revolutionary action against tyranny. We should not expect any less from the West.'

UN warns of Syria food shortage

 'On Monday, the WFP announced that it had to cut the size of its food parcels to Syrian families by 20 per cent. It blamed delays in receiving funds from international donors, saying it has only received 22% of the funds it needs for its operations in Syria.'

 If only you could raise crops with crocodile tears.

Seymour Hersh's Believe It or Don't

 And the source for the lie that Assad didn't use chemical weapons appears to be the same as the one that lied to us about Saddam's links to al-Qaida.

 'If Michael Maloof is "the former intelligence officer" that has been informing him, Sy Hersh has good reason for keeping his identity a secret. Michael Maloof was a Pentagon intelligence officer and part of a two-man team created after 9/11 to find links between al-Qaeda and Iraq. He had his security clearance revoked in 2003.

 Those close to him contend that his clearances were pulled in retaliation for challenging the official assessment that there were no operational terrorist links between al-Qaida and Iraq.'

Turkey’s Syria Policy: Why Seymour Hersh Got it Wrong

 'The conversation is a damning portrayal of the relative disorganization of Turkey’s Syria policy and, contrary to Hersh’s contention, portrays a bureaucracy that is out of options, rather than scheming to manipulate the course of the Syrian civil war. In fact, the most revealing part of the tape is Guler’s contention that even if Turkey were to train 1,000 men to fight in Syria, they would first need to ensure that they had 6 months of ammunition, or otherwise risk the fighters returning after 2 months of fighting.

 At one point, Davutoglu notes that Qatar is desperate to buy more ammo for cash, but are waiting for the “minister’s command.” Most assume that the minister is Erdogan, but no one really knows for certain. The conversation suggests that Turkey has not even stockpiled six-months of ammunition for its preferred proxies and that efforts to do so are marred with bureaucratic delays.'

 And so I wonder if it makes sense to describe the groups that Turkey (and others) support as "proxies" at all, these aren't creations of outside powers, but Syrians looking for arms to fight Assad.

176 prisoners tortured to death in Syrian prisons

 In March. The Syrian government really aren't very nice people.

The Corridor of Death

 'How the Syrian government's use of snipers against its own citizens gives the lie to its talk of fighting terrorism.

 "The Syrian regime's ruthless and relentless slaughter of its own people is a despicable crime. It must be stopped." '

Seymour Hersh's Volcano Problem

 'When accusing the Turkish government of participating in a horrific chemical attack as the pretext to invading Syria, these sort of details aren't something that can just be hand-waved with "well, they could do anything if they put their mind to it", as some commentators have attempted. The chemical Volcano rockets used on August 21st are a key piece of evidence, especially in the case of Seymour Hersh's latest accusations, so by not even acknowledging their existence, it seems Hersh is either ignorant of, or chooses to ignore, key information that is extremely significantly to the narrative he's trying to construct.

 Considering the seriousness of the charges he's making against the Turkish government, such an oversight seems highly irresponsible for a journalist of Hersh's reputation.'

More than 20 martyrs and great destruction after they were targetted with barrel bombs

 Rescue teams look for survivors in the rubble.

 Via EA Worldview [http://eaworldview.com/…/syria-daily-regime-airstrikes-al…/…]

There is No Chemical Weapons Conspiracy

 'The only portions of Hersh’s story that are corroborated by multiple sources are that: 1) the US military was opposed to widespread intervention in Syria after August 21; 2) the US and Turkey disagreed over the scale of support for Syria’s insurgents.'

 Aboud Dandachi: 'On March 5th 2014 the UN team investigating the attack concluded that the chemical weapons used in the attack could only have come from the Syrian army’s stockpiles. Since the regime has not claimed that any of its stockpiles of chemical weapons had been stolen or have gone missing, this finding rules out any possibility whatsoever of anyone except the Syrian army being responsible for the chemical weapons attacks.

 The presence of hexamine in the weapons used is by itself enough to prove the culpability of the regime. It has been described by chemical weapons experts as being “akin to the police finding red lipstick in a woman’s purse that matches collar stains on a murder victim”.'

 Seymour Hersh's 'original' piece is here:
[http://www.lrb.co.uk/…/seymou…/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line]



Note 6/3/25, the link to Aboud Dandachi's comment is missing.

The Syrian Arab Army in decay: Emptying the depots

 'Why are defections growing among regime fighters left behind on various fronts?

 Because they are no fools. They realize the game is up for the regime and for Idlib and so many other cities when the regime is forced to send large convoys of tanks and men off to save Lattakia. Fifteen more regime troops defected yesterday at the Sayyet checkpoint in Khan Shaykhoun. These left behind troops know the convoys will not return to any of those fronts. They sneer at any of their comrades who imagines otherwise.

 They know they’ve been left behind as rear guard cannonfodder to die whenever massive rebel forces arrive sooner or later.'

 [http://eaworldview.com/…/syria-daily-insurgents-retake-tow…/#]

 Which reminds me that I heard somewhere last week, possibly on the BBC's From Our Own Correspondent, someone from Damascus talk about how the régime attracts kids into the shabiha (thuggish militia) with real money and unreal promises that they will only have to serve in their local neighbourhood, only to be whipped off to another front.

 On the EA Worldview thread Dave takes disputes the strength of the Oryx case, specifically over ageing Mig-21s the régime has in storage, which I wonder if they are liable enough to be shot down, as well as not flexible to bomb smaller areas as helicopters, that it isn't worth getting them out.

Why Nigel Farage Has It All Wrong

 Dan Kaszeta:

 'The following formula is a useful summation of the evidence:

 Nobody’s used hexamine previously as a Sarin additive
 +
 There’s hexamine in the field samples
 +
 There’s 80 tons of hexamine in the declared inventory of the Assad Regime
 +
 The Syrian government’s admission to Sellstrom’s team
 EQUALS
 The Assad Regime Did the Wicked Deed'

Is a key Nato member plotting a fake terrorist attack to justify war on Syria?

 No.

 'The authenticity of the recording has not been verified, but nor have I heard any evidence to suggest that it is not authentic. It is not clear when this conversation took place, but its participants included intelligence chief Hakan Fidan, army deputy chief of staff Yasar Guler, and Foreign Ministry under secretary Feridun Sinirlioglu, and there is no doubt about their intentions.'

 If you have no verification, how can you be sure of their intentions?

 Stop The War's intro on their Facebook page is more ludicrously conspiratorial:

 'A fake terrorist attack by a Nato member to justify war on Syria? No reporting of that in the media's fairytale version of Western foreign policy.'

 Pot. Kettle. Black.

 'No matter how many times the consequences of ‘humanitarian interventions’ fail to live up to their expectations."

 Like the one that hasn't taken place in Syria.

This Haunting Photo Of A Stunned Syrian Girl Embodies Assad's Strategy

 'The nails and other shrapnel in the barrels pierce the city and mangle its people. There are a myriad of horrifying photos. The little girl, along with the distraught man in the background, depict the brutality of the crude devices while sparing the gore.'

Syria seen through the eyes of a British journalist and a Dutch jihadist

 Paul Woodward:

 'When a veteran reporter makes this kind of observation, even though he does not identify his source in any way at all, there will be many readers who treat Cockburn’s word (and thus that of an unidentified “observer”) as definitive. In so doing, they ignore the fact that this characterization of the Assad regime’s opponents perfectly mirrors the regime’s own propaganda.

 One can treat Assad’s claim that he is fighting terrorists as a statement of fact. Or, one can treat it as a cynical and effective piece of political messaging — messaging one of whose purposes is to corral some sympathy from those in the West who, paradoxically, both vehemently reject the military adventurism that the neoconservatives initiated after 9/11 and yet also fully embrace a neoconservative view of unified terrorism.'

Syria: Unlawful Air Attacks Terrorize Aleppo

 That's actual terrorism, that is.

Return to Homs at the Brixton Ritzy

 'It removes what director Talal Derki called “the political soap opera” of the civil war, leaving us with the uneasy feeling that Syria’s suffering is the responsibility of us all.'

The fall of the Syrian regime and Lebanon

 This is quite a cheerful outlook.

 'There is a joke which we used to tell one another as children and it goes like this: every morning, a dog used to have fun by chasing a goat. He would chase the goat until it was tired of running and eventually leave it alone and go about its way. One morning, the dog begin to chase the goat as usual; however, that day the goat decided that it would attack and it began to chase the dog head first, pointing its horns at it. The dog was surprised and began to stutter in disbelief, "Has this goat gone crazy?"

 The Assad regime fell the day that the "Syrian goat" went crazy and decided that it no longer wanted to play the Assad dog's game. The regime lost its ability to terrorise the Syrian people when the people of Daraa refused to submit to its guns. The "bank of terrorism" went bankrupt and its currency fell. This stands as a reminder to all of us that the survival of any authoritarian regime is the result of a complicated relationship between the perpetrator and the victim. It is not the terrorism practised by the Assad regime or the Syrian army's presence in Lebanon alone that ensured the regime's survival, but the presence of several parties in both Syria and Lebanon, which gave to and took from the regime much to its advantage and benefit.'

What for the future of tourism?

 'I don’t think you could find such a depth of history and culture anywhere else in the Middle East. The socialist leanings of Syria's dictatorship meant that they had kept out a lot of the trappings of modernisation in terms of fast food restaurants and lots of other associated things, so it was in a bit of a time warp – no McDonald’s, no Starbucks.'

 I don't bother with McDonald's or Starbucks either (Burger King used to have a very good beanburger), but I wouldn't describe this exclusion as socialist, more a way of protecting the régime's own capital accumulation without having US business take a large slice. Blander forms of capitalism aren't socialism.

 This is interesting though, showing how the ruling class can ride out the war on Syria's poor, but that the processes of capitalism can't stay on a war footing indefinitely. My hope is that when the next major defeat for the régime happens, those saying there is no point in continuing with a government that cannot govern the country will help put it out of its victims misery.

 'The owner of the company we used to work with said,"I was fed up. It was much better for me to go back to my own country that I love, even though it’s got great problems." And of course there’s no work, but he was at the top of the tree, so they probably have good savings that they can use to live off. I think he spends his days now going horse riding.'

The Syrian Opposition Coalition is not a lost cause

 'Our Free Syrian Army forces are expected to uphold international humanitarian law and the laws of war; for Assad's forces, the opposite is true and is indeed their modus operandi. All too often the media confuses the public by conflating all forces fighting the regime under the banner “rebels”. Yet the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria recently differentiated our “moderate nationalist forces” as separate from the extremist groups. We oversee the Free Syrian Army, which has been defending Syrian civilians and which is not only taking on Assad’s forces, but fighting against the extremists, Iran-backed terrorists of Hezbollah, and Iraqi sectarian militias.'

 'Our' and 'oversee' might be over-stating the case, but the rest is sound.

U.S. and U.N. are all talk and no action

 'The Obama administration is not lacking in options to stop the ongoing, horrific crimes against humanity in Syria. What it lacks is the will to act. It could order the Assad regime to authorize border crossings by aid convoys — something Ms.Power said would require only “a stroke of the pen” — or face the same airstrikes Mr.Obama threatened last summer. It could target blockade points with drone or missile strikes. It could provide rebels with the air defense weapons they need to stop helicopters from dropping barrel bombs on civilian housing, hospitals and schools. It could disable the bases used by regime aircraft.'

Qadri Jamil

 "There are some in the West who support this new fascism. I prefer those, who like in Spain in the 1930s, fought the fascists."

 What's funny about this is that RT give Qadri Jamil the title, "opposition politician". This is who the Russians think should be representing the opposition at peace talks, so they and the government can co-operate in fighting the terrorists. And the fascists, who I think are the same people.

 "Do you think Assad should step down, or would that leave Syria at the mercy of the country's enemies?"
 "I don't know why this is a question at the moment."

Nigel Farage claims Syrian rebels carried out chemical attack last summer

 'Only the Syrian and Russian governments suggest that the Syrian government did not fire chemical weapons at Ghouta.'

 And Nigel and sections of what used to be the Western Left.

 This, from an expert of Syrian Islamism, is worrying,

Thomas Pierret:

(1) 8/21 CW attack in Damascus was response to rebel inroads esp. in Jobar.
(2) today rebels are progressing in Jobar again and Syr amba to UN warns against false CW attack by rebels in Jobar.
(3) conclusion : Asad probably ready to use CW again to prevent rebels from reaching Abbassid square

Less of a Truce, More of a Military Occupation

 'Today, 90% of Talkalakh’s former residents are refugees or displaced. Even the rosy picture presented to the LA Times couldn’t conceal the fact that the town was largely empty of its inhabitants. There is a reason why Syrian refugees avoid the army as one would avoid a plague of zombies; bad things happen under a military occupation. Like so many other Syrian towns, cities and neighborhoods, Talkalakh was left devoid of inhabitants after the Syrian army moved in.'

 I began to notice when the régime recaptured neighbourhoods in Aleppo in late 2012 that the population never came back. You cannot rule if there is noone to rule.

No one controls the castle forever

 'History hasn’t come to an end in Syria. The damage to this magnificent fortress is testament to that. No one will control the Crac des Chevaliers forever.'

 Lindsey Hilsum has a piece on Channel 4 News tonight, I think about Homs, and they have a couple of other pieces on Syria, I don't know if they all on tonight.

 The reports have had some flashes of the truth that the problem in Syria is Assad, but especially the commentary has a lot of, "both sides have pounded the city", some rebel groups have been accused of", some Britons have gone to fight for jihad".

 Lindsey Hilsum points out that bombs have begun falling in the Alawite heartland of Lattakia because the government is losing it there.

Rebel general explains the Latakia battle

 "The Alawites on the coast are not our enemies—our disagreement with them is that they should have joined the revolution and spoken out against this brutal regime that is killing its people. But this won’t make us kill them—we fight only those who take up arms against us. There is no sectarianism in this revolution. Syria only has two sects: that of the regime and that of the revolution."

Syria: three years on – the people still want the fall of the regime

 'One of the great achievements of the Stop the War movement at its height was that it brought together Muslim and non-Muslims with organisations of the labour movement and broader progressive forces. Islamophobia in France that made demonstrations of this kind impossible there was rightly criticised by the British left at the time. But now we might ask: where then was the British left on Saturday 15 March?'

 There's a part about "military intervention" at the start that could do with being more to the point, and the attitude towards Banksy seems to be more that his With Syria piece is more making up for his earlier work, but it's good to see more people on the Left getting the point that those on the Left who don't support the Syrian revolution really aren't helping at all.

Spanish journalists freed in Syria after six-month ordeal

 'However, Syrian opposition and European officials say Isis can no longer command the influence it has had for much of the past year over parts of northern Syria.

 "As strong as they are in numbers, they have taken several strategic blows recently," one senior western official said. "They have been defeated in much of the north, and they will not be coming back there. The battle has been won. The regular opposition can now get back to fighting Assad." '

 That last line at the end is something that we never get from those worried about "intervention", whereby unwarranted fears that Barack Obama was going to re-enact the Iraq War or that he would be arming the very jihadists the regular rebels have been fighting, in reality meant that little pressure has been applied to enable the real revolutionaries in Syria to get the arms they need.

The Debunkation of Assadist media

 The Revolting Syrian has a new blog.

Help Syrians under siege

 'Here's my suggestion: Instead of sending video cameras to civilian rebels to film the carnage, or ambulances to take victims to gutted hospitals (the latest idea), the United States should get real. Send vetted rebel groups the heavy weapons they need to shoot down planes that bomb civilians, and to ensure that aid reaches the needy. Doing less makes us complicit in Assad's war crimes.'

Obama seeks to ease backlash over Syria

 'Saudi officials have grown particularly concerned about what they see as Obama's tepid response to the Syrian civil war and have pressed the US to allow them to play a direct role in sending the rebels the air defence systems known as manpads. While administration officials have previously ruled out that option, a senior official said it was being considered anew, in part because the US has developed deeper relationships with the rebels over the past year.'

 Despite the conventional view of the US as backing the rebels, they have been a block on the rebels getting the weapons they need to end the war. It is a shame that that the rebels still are in a position where they have to go cap in hand to empires and monarchies for help, but needs must.

"Please don’t cut my pajamas sir, they’re new"

 'This is what a little girl in Aleppo, Syria is telling the cameraman as he checks her wound. Assad’s forces dropped a barrel bomb (barrel packed with TNT and tossed from a helicopter) onto this girl.

 She goes on to say: “My mother was so happy today because I was able to walk” … referring to a previous operation she had to repair her legs from a previous bombing attack by the Assad regime.

 This is Syria. There are Syria’s children. This is the "life" they live under the Assad regime.'

Essential solidarity

 'The Syrian revolution is not dead, but its enemies grow stronger. The first is undoubtedly the killing machine of the regime.'

 I don't think the Assad régime is growing stronger, it is having to press-gang young men for its latest offensive, and the economy cannot stagger on indefinitely on a permanent war footing.

The Silent Enemy

 "How was Aleppo before you left?"

 "Barrels and scud missiles and people in the street."

Arab countries still at odds over Syria's Arab League seat

 'Prince Salman said ending the conflict in Syria "requires the change of balance of power on the ground and give the Syrian opposition the support they need." The Saudi senior official attributed his remarks to the failure of the international community to help the Syrian people in the face of Syrian regime's killing machine, specially following the collapse of Geneva II negotiations, held last January.'

 It is again a matter of embarrassment that it should be left to a prince of one of the most reactionary monarchies to say the right thing.

 The Arab League has agreed to seat the National Coalition of Opposition and Revolutionary Forces, which may help with diplomatically delegitimising the régime and empowering the forces of change.

Assad’s Killing Industry and the Role of Intellectuals

 Yassin Al Haj Saleh:

 'There is a systematic, calculating and disciplined thought process on how to kill detainees with the utmost care to cover up any real information about how they died.'

Steve Israel On Syria: It Won't Matter In 2014

 'Israel, a self-described hawkish Democrat, said that he was personally inclined to support a congressional resolution authorizing the use of force, provided that it was tailored to ensure that U.S. troops aren't actually deployed in Syria.'

 The idea that there was going to be a catastrophic American intervention, i.e. an Iraq-style invasion, was always a lie, and stopped the question being asked about what could be done to help Syrians facing a genocidal dictator.

Assad is already counting on soldiers still at school

 Fisk has lost it big time. Much like Assad, in reality. Byzantium may have endured, but Assad will not.

 'But the army won, and it is this increasingly formidable force – let us, of course, remember that the West claims war criminals are among them – that is the one institution in Syria upon which Assad must rely.

 Only a few months ago, the Free Syrian Army was trying to find an accommodation with the regime, sending middle men to Damascus to talk to representatives of the President. But the government abandoned such contacts when the FSA decided to grab at the American offer of more arms at Geneva.

 Qatar is just – slightly – beginning to allow its suspicion and contempt for Saudi Arabia to outweigh its enthusiasm for the war against Assad.

 With a Russian-Iranian-Qatari guarantee of “fair” elections in Syria – please hold your breath, readers – who better to rebuild Assad’s rubbled country than Iran and Russia, backed by Qatar’s wealth? Why, they could even invite the workers of Crimea to give them a hand…'

Insurgents Inflict Heavy Losses on Regime Across Country

 'Syria’s opposition has appealed to an Arab League summit for “sophisticated” weapons to the insurgency, supported by Saudi Arabia’s declaration of the need for a change in the military balance to “end the impasse” in the conflict.

 In contrast, United nations envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, insisted on an “end to the supply of arms to all parties” to encourage a “political solution” to the conflict.'

Syria: Blaming the Opposition

 'One may criticize the Obama administration's policy toward Syria on many levels. Yet the intelligence and knowledge of key administration officials is beyond reproach. They know that a failure of strategic communication on the part of Syria’s opposition is far from the top reason for the Assad regime’s survival.

 Yet, saying it is so is an essential facet of the “someone else’s civil war” thesis; it is a useful excuse for standing aside, writing checks for humanitarian assistance, and otherwise merely bearing witness to the twenty-first century’s premier humanitarian abomination to date. Blaming the victim, positing the rough moral equivalence of the parties, claiming that intervention would only make things worse, clinging to an all-or-nothing thesis by citing mass murder elsewhere and using the Iraq catastrophe as a one-size-fits-all template—these are all excuses for translating “never again” to “well, maybe this once." '

Young Syrians bring Lear to life at a refugee camp

 ' “I seek to revive laughter and joy among children to help them express themselves,” said Bulbul, who was in several hit soap operas at home before falling foul of President Bashar Assad’s regime and fleeing into exile.

 “I seek to reproduce their childhood, which has been destroyed by war.” '

Nasrallah sent message to reassure Israel

 “You can tell the Israelis that Lebanon’s southern borders are the safest place in the world because all of our attention is focused on what is happening in Syria.”

 Remember last year when the Russians were going to provide Assad with missiles to stop the non-existent US invasion? And Israel were going to attack the Russian navy to stop it? Some people were gullible enough to fall for that baloney.

The Syrian Revolution and the Role of the Intellectual

 Dr. Sadiq Jalal Al-Azm:

 'I think what is happening in Syria today is, first of all, an overwhelming popular Intifada, in the classical sense of the word Intifada as invented by the Palestinian people, which was then forced to militarize. Any uprising against a military tyranny transforms the forces of the striking army to an occupation army, in the full sense of the term, which destroys the stone and the country as well as kills people without expense.

Second of all, what is happening in Syria today is also a revolution in that the popular Intifada in Syria seeks restoration of the republic through the toppling of the old hereditary regime that is worn-out in all its institutions, and to establish an alternative system of governance. Isn’t this adequate to recognize that what is taking place in Syria today is a real revolution?'

Left Orientalism - Syria and the Left

Sophia Deeg:

 '15/03/2014 marked the third anniversary of the commencement of the Syrian uprising against the Assad regime. In Berlin, there was a modest rally predominantly of Syrian supporters of the revolution on this occasion. In the speeches repeatedly sounded the disappointment and incomprehension at the lack of support from the "international community".Especially in the days before had the UN, NGOs and the media, as helpless as the pile of demonstrators complained about the humanitarian disaster that puts everything that has gone before in the shade and even the professionals of the management of apocalyptic proportions speechless.

 What activities has the party unfolds the Left to support the revolution in Syria? At any rate, no representative was to be seen at the rally. Perhaps no one had time. Or perhaps the Left Party is as helpless as an elderly passerby who asked: "Well, what can we do?" '

Sweeping Advances Made by the Revolutionary Fighters in Syria

 'The forces of Hilal's son (each spoiled Assad family member has their own gang of thugs, seemingly) furiously roamed Latakia's streets after his death, angrily shooting at anything that moves, and even allegedly fighting with Assad's forces.

 In addition, Assad's forces have surrounded the Sunni neighborhoods of Soliaba and Tabyat in Latakia city in response to the killings, sparking fears of sectarian massacres in retaliation. This vile regime has shown itself incapable of anything but violence and hatred, as well as irrationality and a lack of logic. Turkey aided Syrians, so as a result, Syrians must pay for that with their lives.

 However, we are sincerely hoping and praying that this will not turn out to be the case. Despite the constant media lies claiming that Assad is winning, the revolutionaries are advancing all across Syria.'