At least save the Nepalese

Here are all of the problems with the reeling Syrian army

'A plunge in Syrian Army manpower

Declining support for the government

Government infighting

The regime is almost broke

Security is failing in Damascus

The rebels have consolidated'

Are Syrian Islamists moving to counterbalance Al-Qaeda?

 “We eagerly want to talk with the West and to show them what we stand for, but our total allegiance is to the revolution and toppling the regime. If the West doesn’t want to help us with this and receive our requests [for meetings], we’ll turn to others who do.”

How a new rebel unity is making headway

 Lina Sinjab has done some of the better reporting for the BBC on Syria.

 'There were fears that the rebels would seek to implement a strict interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia, but instead they established civil councils to oversee law and order, and public services.

 An audio message purportedly by al-Nusra's leader, Abu Mohammed al-Julani, declared that the Idlib would be governed according to Sharia, but Mr Hamidi believes its application will be limited.

 "To my knowledge, Saudi Arabia and Qatar put pressure on Julani to ensure al-Nusra's approach would be a moderate one," he says.

 Hadi al Abdalla, a citizen journalist who reported on the battle for Idlib from the frontline, says Western media coverage has mistakenly focused on the presence of al-Nusra.

 "For the first time all the groups here are united and they insist that they want civil rule rather than Sharia rule," he explains.'

Syrian activists reveal torture at hands of al-Nusra

 'The torture inflicted on him was not by the regime. It was by rebels supposedly on his side – another grim example of how Syria’s revolution is now consuming its own children.'

 What a load of nonsense. After last week's passing on of a Pentagon press release* about the "Khorosan" group the US has invented to justify bombing Islamist rebels against Assad, Kim Sengupta follows up with this crap. Never mind that the Assad has murdered tens of thousands of children to stop the revolution, far more important in denigrating that revolution is that an activist was arrested by Jabhat al-Nusra, tortured, released with a warning, and now plans to go back to Aleppo. And Sengupta uses his personal contact with James Foley to mix in executions by ISIS with all of this. A disgrace. It is obviously worrying when Jabhat al-Nusra does things like this, though there is no sign in this report that such incidents might become rarer now that Nusra is co-operating with other groups in Northern Syria; that's because the report is promoting a pro-Assad worldview - all the rebels are mad jihadis, there is no revolution - posing as concern.
*[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-conflict-khorasan-return-with-a-fresh-influx-of-fighters-awaiting-the-order-to-start-shooting-the-birds-10196611.html]

Shared battlefield goals trump ideology among rebels

 'Islamists have signaled that they are no longer determined to fight against Western-backed groups.

 “Maybe Nusra fought ... Hazzm at the start, because they said they were no good. Now they have a plan to fight only the regime,” Mazin Qusum, commander of the Siham Al-Haqq brigade, an Islamist unit fighting alongside the Army of Fatah, told Reuters in the Turkish border town of Reyhanli.

 In a sign of cooperation, an arm of the Western-backed opposition government in exile, the Syrian National Coalition, has been given the responsibility for health and education in areas the rebels have recently captured.

 Sitting in Istanbul with Division 13 and Fursan al Haq commanders, a representative of Ahrar al-Sham’s political office, Abu Mohammed, stressed unity.

 Asked whether Ahrar al-Sham would impose Sharia law in areas it controls - usually the central mission of militants - he said: “We and the others, when we liberate all of Syria, we will meet and determine what kind of law there will be.”

 Abu Hamoud, a commander from Division 13, said his group coordinated with Nusra Front, which the United States considers a terrorist organization, but this does not mean it is aligned to it.

 “It is completely stable in Idlib province, there will be no fighting between the brigades,” said Abu Hamoud.

 Hossam Abu Bakr, spokesman for Ahrar al-Sham, said the group would defend Division 13 if Nusra attacked it without the right to do so. He rejected any suggestion that the alliance was extremist.

 “Our first goal is the fall of the criminal regime and then to build a country which... preserves our identity far from extremism,” he said via Skype.'

U.S. allies in Middle East ramp up support for rebels

 'Saudi Arabia and Turkey, with an assist from Qatar, recently ended a long estrangement to address their shared concern over the lagging fight against Assad.

 Regional officials insist that the aid, including U.S.-made TOW missiles, is not going to the Islamists. Instead, they said, it is enabling moderates to enhance their stature among opposition fighters after years of being outgunned and out-financed by more militant groups.

 The new approach could undermine three years of U.S. Syria policy focused on securing a negotiated settlement to the war by putting enough pressure on Assad that he feels compelled to make compromises, but not enough to score an outright opposition victory that might result in chaos and cause Syria to collapse even further.

 Many now argue, however, that the United States needs to take more risks in arming the rebels if it wants to stay relevant.

 “The Turks, the Saudis and the Qataris are trying to shake it up,” said Robert Ford, a former U.S. ambassador to Syria. “If you don’t want them to increase arms shipments, what is your solution? The answer can’t be ‘We’re going to bomb Daesh.’ ” '

The beginning of the end in Syria

 'What are the Iranians thinking? They have made Assad’s political survival a strategic priority, but the incompetence and brutality of his regime – to which Iran has amply contributed – have ensured the task is unachievable. Even with Iranian and Russian help Assad is losing ground rapidly. Partly that’s because the life is gone from his armed forces, which have been successful only in their campaign to slaughter tens of thousands of civilians.

 Only fear of what might come after Assad has made countries reluctant to help accelerate the Syrian president’s exit. To quote the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, John Brennan, who was speaking last month to the Council on Foreign Relations, “The last thing we want to do is to allow [Islamic extremists] to march into Damascus.” That attitude has long prevailed in Washington, but only now are the Americans realizing that their hesitancy to see Assad pushed out in 2011 only created conditions that made a worse outcome probable.

 Assad may hold out for a time. But he has nothing on which to rebuild his authority. His community is in disarray; his army and intelligence services are as well. Iran, Hezbollah and Russia are filling the void, but with increasingly limited effectiveness and no hope of amelioration. Bashar Assad’s regime is on life support. Someone needs to pull the plug, preferably Assad’s friends, while a negotiated transition in Syria is still vaguely possible.'

Regime fights own militia in Homs

 'Unprecedented fighting erupted between regime troops and National Defense Force members in an Alawite quarter of central Homs, according to press reports and activist statements.

 A member of the activist Homs Media Center, who claimed Wednesday that the strife followed increased insubordination among pro-regime supporters as the corpses of their colleagues deployed to fighting in Idlib have been returned to Homs.

 He added that NDF members in Homs have not been paid their salaries in recent months, and have resorted to violence to extort money from local residents.

 “As soon as the doors are blown off the shops are robbed, at the same moment as people are rushing [to the scene] to save the victims and pull out bodies.” '

Syrian oppostion advance to central Aleppo

 'The opposition forces are advancing towards central Aleppo and shelling regime forces, he added.

 Abu Yasir said that the operation would continue until Aleppo was completely controlled by the opposition.

 "Our spirits were raised after opposition forces seized control of Idlib and Jisr al-Shughur cities." '

Assad's regime is in huge trouble

 'The regime's eastern holdings are in danger of being totally cut off, a development that would give the rebels a foothold near the heart of Assad's remaining territory.

 Western actors, including the US, will have to calculate how a regime defeat will affect the war against ISIS, and decide whether regime collapse is even desirable.

 In any case, a break in a long and violent stalemate could be underway. “A military collapse on the regime side is not impossible,” one unnamed diplomat told The Post.'

Oak Lawn doctor a voice for victims in Syria

 'People forget that this all began in 2013 when the Syrian people launched a revolution to oust Assad on social media. The vast majority of the people there have the same values as the people here in America. They want the same things. They want to operate businesses, they want to feel safe in their homes, they want freedom.

 What's going on there amounts to a genocide. It's important that people who can do something do what they can to stop it.

 It's psychological warfare of a sort. After one such attack, which killed three people, 50 percent of the people who lived in the area moved. That's the goal.

 We all need to help them. All of the people in the world. Humanitarian aid is no longer enough. That's the message we need people to hear.'

Planet Syria calling

 ' “Should I spread my family out through the house so if a barrel bomb hits we won’t all die together or should we all stay together in the same room in order to die together? Should I sleep in the basement in case a barrel bomb hits, or on the top floor so I don’t suffocate if the barrel bomb turns out to contain poison gas?”

 We all, inside and outside Syria, have a moral and ethical responsibility to put pressure on all parties to bring a halt to the use of barrel bombs and other indiscriminate weapons, to work to find a just political solution, and to ensure that those living out on Planet Syria sense that we can hear their cry and stand with them.'

Rebels fight IS-linked group near Israeli-occupied Golan

 'Essam al-Rayes, spokesperson for the Southern Front coalition which is fighting Jaish al-Islam, said the IS-linked group had a presence in and around the town of Qahtaniya.

 Speaking by phone from Jordan, Rayes said tensions among opposition fighters in the town rose after it was suspected that Jaish al-Jihad had pledged allegiance to IS.

 The battles erupted on Monday after Jaish al-Jihad ambushed a Southern Front convoy and killed six rebels, Rayes added.

 "Al-Nusra Front then joined the fight, because Daesh is our common enemy," Rayes said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.'

 I just listened to an RT report that started off grouping al-Nusra and ISIS together, one of the underlying lies of their pro-Assad propaganda.

The "Left's" Crime Against Humanity

 Also has details on the response of Patrick Cockburn, Robert Fisk, Tariq Ali and others.

 'Noam Chomsky was on Democracy Now for 9/11 and he had his own way of obfuscating the very big gap between weapons use and weapons possession. He argued that if Syria was agreeing to give up its chemical weapons in the wake of 1400+ chemical deaths, then Israel should be made to give up its stockpiles of chemical weapons too, because they are in the same region, adding "Of course, chemical weapons should be eliminated everywhere, but certainly in that region."

 He talked a lot about how the "United States is a rogue state" that "doesn’t pay any attention to international law," but he leveled no such charges against the Syrian government or its Russian backers. The carnage caused by Assad, both with and without chemical weapons didn't get discussed. The main point of this Syria segment was that Noam Chomsky thought that instead of making threats against Syria in response to the chemical murders, Obama should go after Israel's chemical weapons.

 It's not that everyone on the Left supports Assad, far from it, but there is so little opposition from those that don't, that the the casual observer should be forgiven for thinking the mainstream "Left" is in Assad's corner. Perhaps the "Left's" greatest crime against humanity has been how it has shared in the media coverup, failed even to publicize the daily horror a people are being subjected to by its government because that government claims opposition to Israel. The Left is suppose to be the champions of the people internationally, and instead it denied the people's struggle, participated in the cover up, and gave comfort to the oppressor.

 Not only is another Left possible, another Left is necessary!'

Only a no-fly zone can curb chemical attacks in Syria

 'The UK parliament voted not to take military action after Ghouta and not to support Barack Obama’s plan for strategic strikes to take down Assad’s command and control capability and destroy key sites and chemical weapons facilities. The British vote unfortunately made Obama recalibrate. It is interesting to hear Ed Miliband, who wants to be the UK’s next prime minister, claim responsibility for this inaction as a demonstration of his gravitas and statesmanship. I, for one, believe it is the greatest strategic military mistake this century. It kept Assad in power – with the result that thousands more are dead and injured – and fuelled the rise of Islamic State. Had the attacks gone ahead as the US wanted, the ensuing situation would certainly not be worse than it is today, and at the other end of the scale the Assad regime could have fallen and IS stopped in its tracks.'

 I don't believe the US did want to take action, like Cameron, Obama wanted to be seen to be trying to do something without actually getting involved, and risking that Islamists would replace Assad in Syria. I think there is another way to stop the chemical attacks, give the Free Syrian Army the anti-aircraft weapons they have been asking for since 2012. If there were a No Fly Zone over Idlib only, it might well save some lives, even getting there seems hedged with so many qualifications that like the train-and-equip programme for a US proxy army to take on ISIS, it may take so long to get off the ground that it may be over-taken by events. I haven't actually seen any evidence that Syrian and Iranian jets have been attacking ISIS in Syria; they have attacked civilians in ISIS-controlled areas, so I don't see that a country-wide no fly zone stopping such attacks would be a bad thing. On previous evidence, even if a no fly zone were established in Idlib, previous experience would suggest the régime would up its barrel bomb attacks in all other areas. I'm mindful that one of the stupid arguments against arming the FSA was that the Russians would just up their weapons supplies to Assad; I'm not saying an Idlib no fly zone would make things worse, just that it may not be the answer.

 Two comments so far, one pretends that Syria is Iraq, the other repeats Seymour Hersh's genocide denialist claim that the rebels used chemical weapons on themselves to provoke US intervention.

Withdrawing Syria troops 'executed' prisoners

 They did this in Idlib too. It must be heartbreaking to lose your life on the eve of liberation. There will be more before Assad is gone, the way to minimise it is to shorten the time until that happens. Until then, he's still using chlorine gas on rebel positions in Idlib & Hama.* On a brighter note, the Free Syrian Army doesn't need to wait for the US training programme to materialise any more, "Assad strongholds in Latakia are now in the range of our fire & we no longer need USA training program."**

*[https://twitter.com/Malcolmite/status/592291229364162560]
**[https://twitter.com/RamiAlLolah/status/592005869828734976]

Noam Chomsky: Media, NATO, ISIS

 From 5m53s, Chomsky continues his complaint that the US is not backing Assad, and continues to praise Patrick Cockburn as well-informed, perhaps unaware of the latter's open adoption of the War on Terror.*

 "Take a look at US policy towards ISIS. There are several forces in the region, that are really combatting ISIS. The main state is Iran, Iran is combatting ISIS. Is the US supporting Iran against ISIS? No, Iran is an enemy. We have to undermine it. On the ground, the main force opposing ISIS, say around Kobanê in Syria, is the PKK, the Turkish-based guerrilla group that's on the US terrorist list. The US is not supporting them. Of course it's not supporting the Assad régime that's also opposed to ISIS.

 What's the policy for opposing ISIS? One of the main commentators on the region, one who's been most informed and accurate, Patrick Cockburn, calls it an 'Alice in Wonderland' policy. It's a policy that's meaningless, it's pieced together; somehow the Obama administration is trying to oppose ISIS, while opposing the forces that are opposed to ISIS. So who are the worthy and unworthy victims? You try and pick them out, it's whoever the US is opposing at the moment."

 Basically he's repeating the same rubbish he came out with in an RT interview in December**, though with the US coming to a deal with Iran it is even more off-base. Clearly the hundreds of thousands of victims of the Assad régime are not worthy victims for Noam Chomsky.

*[http://notris.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/in-middle-east-our-enemys-enemy-must-be.html]
**[http://notris.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/noam-chomsky-on-america-this-is-very.html]

US-backed rebels with Islamists capture strategic city

 'Supporters of the moderate rebels sought, however, to discredit claims from the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors fighting in Syria, that Nusra had led the fighting and that it and Islamist groups were responsible for the city’s capture.

 Muhammad al Faisal, a reporter with the opposition Orient TV network, who is now in Jisr al Shughur, told McClatchy that many moderate rebel groups had taken part in the assault on the city, something the Syrian Observatory report did not note.

 Gen. Ahmad Berri, the deputy chief of staff of the pro-Western Free Syrian Army, said half the fighters in the attack were affiliated with the FSA. He said moderate rebels destroyed nine government tanks. He also acknowledged that Nusra had deployed one suicide bomber and one car bomb in the fighting.'

 If I was being picky, I might question how much any rebels in Syria are backed by the US. Certainly some of their TOW anti-tank missiles were used, though when Idlib was captured, the TOWs used were ones captured by Nusra from their original recipients.

 Still, better than the rubbish you get from the BBC*, including stupid lines like, "Before the rise of Islamic State, the Nusra Front was seen as the strongest and most militant rebel force."
* "Islamists capture Jisr al-Shughur" [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-32461693]

Supporters of the moderate rebels sought, however, to discredit claims from the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors fighting in Syria, that Nusra had led the fighting and that it and Islamist groups were responsible for the city’s capture.

Muhammad al Faisal, a reporter with the opposition Orient TV network, who is now in Jisr al Shughur, told McClatchy that many moderate rebel groups had taken part in the assault on the city, something the Syrian Observatory report did not note.

Gen. Ahmad Berri, the deputy chief of staff of the pro-Western Free Syrian Army, said half the fighters in the attack were affiliated with the FSA. He said moderate rebels destroyed nine government tanks. He also acknowledged that Nusra had deployed one suicide bomber and one car bomb in the fighting.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/04/25/264444/us-backed-rebels-team-with-islamists.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/04/25/264444/us-backed-rebels-team-with-islamists.html#storylink=cpy

Feared Syrian security chief dead

 'Al-Quds al-Araby reported that Ghazaleh refused to turn over his house in his Daraa hometown to Iranian and Hezbollah forces so they could set up artillery and tanks in it that would have been used to strike opposition fighters near the village.

 “He then openly defied orders and released a video of his house being blown up to send a clear message that no foreign forces would ever enter it,” the report added.

 The pan-Arab daily added that Shehadeh then proceeded to call Ghazaleh and question his manhood, after which the latter said he “would prove his manhood by coming into Shehadeh’s office in [Damascus’] Kfar Souseh and stomping on his head.”

 As soon as he arrived Ghazaleh was intercepted by eight of Shehadeh’s guards. They proceeded to beat him severely, and then he was dragged bleeding into the office where Rafiq Shehadeh spat on him and ordered his guards to take Ghazaleh to a hospital, the paper also said.'

Nusra advances in Idlib as Jolie rips Security Council

 "We cannot look at Syria and the evil that has arisen from the ashes of indecision and think this is not the lowest point in the world's inability to protect and defend the innocent."

 The rebel coalition seems now to have entirely taken Jisr al-Shugour, cutting Assad's supply route to his home province of Latakia. All his foreign mercenaries may not be able to save him now. It was the town where Assad's lies about the revolution started, when it was claimed that 175 members of the Syrian Army were massacred by terrorists in June 2011, in an improbable lie, like all the improbable lies since reported as equally valid to the accounts of real massacres by Assad in the mainstream Western media.

Why Syria's Devout Oppose ISIS

 'The Free Syrian Army and the other Islamist groups [like al-Qaeda's Jabhat al-Nusra], even when you disagree with them on some points, they understand very well that you are a Syrian, they understand the society is multicolored.

 The Islamist groups, for example, they don't like smoking. They consider it a sin, but they understand very well that in this Syrian society, people smoke, so they don't want to be harsh in making people quit smoking. They believe through advice they can make you quit this bad behavior.

 So where is the problem with ISIS? [Jabhat al] Nusra or the Islamists or the FSA, they believe in the idea of citizenship in Syria, they believe those people are citizens of Syria, and they have rights. The concept of Syria as a country is clear for them. Even when they say "we want an Islamic system," they are talking about an Islamic system inside Syria only.

 ISIS did not understand when the Syrians started this revolution against Bashar al Assad, they did not stand up because he was an Alawite [a minority sect], but only because he was an oppressor. ISIS thinks the Syrians started the revolution because Assad was an Alawite. This is proof they do not understand the nature and culture of the Syrian people.

 I participated in the revolution to get my rights and dignity, and not to be ruled by a stranger that does not know the nature of the society, or the value of citizenship. More importantly, the people who want to rule us, they are already not welcome in their own countries. If they were honest about their goals, why didn't they establish the Caliphate in their own countries?'

Who Will Be Left to Speak for Me?

 'It is often said that the reason for this silence is because the problem is too complex and that the voices of moderates have been lost. This implies that Syria is now a nation of extremists or that the notion of “moderate” cannot apply to anyone who chose and chooses to defend his or her family and community against atrocities. These Syrians—the moderate opposition, including everyday Syrians protecting themselves—are often erased from the Western narrative for choosing to live rather than be slaughtered by the regime, ISIS, Hezbollah, and other foreign mercenaries, in a situation Western commentators have never been in and hope never to find themselves in.

 The barrel bombs must end. The use of chemical weapons, rape, and starvation as weapons of war must end. The torture of tens of thousands of innocent people in regime jails must end. The Syrian people need the international community more than ever. When the Syrian war ends, and it will as all things do, the world will likely count the costs of its inaction. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "The ultimate tragedy [will be] not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people." If world leaders continue to ignore the problem, hoping that it will die or fade, eventually each of us will have to ask ourselves, Who will be left to speak for me?'

The Iran Deal Is Hurting the ISIS Fight

 'Because Iran supports Assad, an U.S.-approved Iranian foothold in Syria as a result of the nuclear deal would push thousands of Syrians toward ISIS. It would also fail, because the strongest anti-ISIS actor in Syria today is the "farmers or dentists" that President Obama derides. Just look at military developments since February:

 In the north, a new hardline rebel coalition stormed the last northern city under full regime control and captured it in just five days. Rebels resoundingly defeated Iran-backed foreign fighters near Syria's largest city, then breached regime defenses inside the city for the first time in three years. In the south, rebels repulsed a major Iran-backed offensive by inflicting heavy casualties. They then seized a strategic town and the main border crossing into Jordan before resuming their gradual advance toward the capital.

 President Obama recently stated, "Our core interests are...that children are not having barrel bombs dropped on them." He also asked why "we can't have Arabs...fighting against what Assad has done." But only he can answer this question. In February 2014, when Assad launched his fiercest barrel bombings of the entire war on civilians who had evicted ISIS, Saudi Arabia sought to transfer anti-aircraft weapons to the opposition. President Obama vetoed the transfer.'

Where are Razan, Samira, Wael and Nazem?

 'Turkey, which has shown more support to the various sections of the Syrian opposition and provided better options for Syrian refugees than all other countries in the world, must work to ensure the release of Samira, Razan, Wael and Nazem. The same applies to officials dealing with matters related to Syria in other countries that support the opposition, and officials within the opposition itself, some of whom have been living in Turkey for a long time. They must show Alloush and people like him that the kidnapping of defenseless civilians and activists with a long and unwavering history of standing up to Assad is a crime.'

Syria kidnapping was not what it seemed

 Eamonn McCann used to be a journalist and a revolutionary, now he's an apologist for Assad's genocide. The idea that the involvement of Iran and its proxy militias in Syria is the invention of right-wing plotters in the US is belied by the tens of thousands of them fighting there, as evidenced by capture and funerals, and the areas that have been taken over, particularly in Damascus, after the ethnic cleansing of Sunni Muslims, for their families to settle in.

 The New York Times, which has been noticeably hostile to the Free Syrian Army, may claim it is involved in these shenanigans, but all I can see from the NBC report is that a criminal gang kidnapped Mr. Engel, and he was freed after the intervention of the local leader of Ahrar al-Sham. A group that has been bombed by the Amercians, under the impression that any group with Islamic leanings must be al-Qaida, told by the same people who claimed Saddam was behind al-Qaida, the same people behind Seymour Hersh's claim that the rebels used chemical weapons on themselves to provoke a US response. Never mind that the group suggested to have been doing this are opposed to any American involvement in Syria, never mind that the Syrian government has bombed civilians with chemical weapons many times over since, and there has still been no response to the demand, not for American intervention, but for Syrians to get the means to free themselves from rape, torture and murder.

Islamic State fills coffers with Iraqi government cash

 'Crucial to its revenue is income derived from oil produced from large fields in eastern Syria, some of which it then sells on to its arch enemy, the Syrian government, according to an informed source on the ground and a senior US official in Washington.

 “Much of the oil goes to the Assad regime,” said Danny Glaser, assistant secretary for terrorist financing at the US treasury. “There’s a business opportunity, there’s a need for both of them. The Assad regime needs the oil, Isis needs the cash and they’re willing to do business even as they’re fighting each other.” '

 Ally rather than arch-enemy, co-ordinating attacks on Syrian rebels more than fighting each other.

Drowning of hundreds is no accident

 There's some nonsense at the end about how chaos in Libya is due to Western hijacking of the revolution, and the article just blames the West's wars for the crisis, and ignores how the lack of support for the fight against Assad and the demonisation of those who do so as all being al-Qaida has fed the racist anti-migrant mood. But this points to the reality:

 'Mohammad, a refugee from Daraya near the Syrian capital Damascus, told Socialist Worker why he had risked his life to make the journey.

 “I did it because I had no choice,” he said. “I had to leave my country because of the war.
“In August 2012 the regime massacred more than 700 people in my home town over four days, including my aunt and her husband. I am a doctor. The regime targeted me because I treated civilians.” '

Our Terrible Country

 'This road movie portrays the perilous journey of well-known intellectual Yassin al-Haj Saleh and young photographer Ziad Homsi through Syria, at a time when the country edges towards the brink.

 Yassin (53), who spent 16 years in prison for belonging to the Syrian left, goes underground in 2011 to serve Syria’s popular uprising, while Ziad (24) - occasionally fighting with the rebels - takes photographs in his hometown Douma. In this Damascene suburb – where Yassin and his wife Samira Khalil found shelter - the two men meet and become friends.'

 Available online until May 3rd.

The nail in the coffin for ‘local ceasefires’ in Syria

 'On Sunday, residents of Moadamiya, a town that lies just outside the Syrian capital, received a draconian ultimatum from Hassan Gandour, a former resident of Moadamiya and the regime's chief negotiator for the town.

 The ultimatum demands that Moadamiya be "evacuated of all inhabitants, including civilian residents." It warns that unless a farcical "ceasefire initiative" circulated by Gandour is enacted within fifteen days, "anyone within the town takes his life into his own hands." Finally, it levels a chilling threat at Syrian opposition members: "This war is not yet over. By God, I swear over the anguished cries of our women, children, and fellow residents that we will take revenge."

 Multiple foreign policy analysts have supported "local ceasefires" by claiming that they could reduce conflict, restore humanitarian aid, and promote broader reconciliation. Now we see the truth: Moadamiya's "local ceasefire" has culminated in a renewed siege and regime vows that the "war is not yet over." Only this time, residents are less able to defend themselves after ceding weapons in the previous ceasefire.

 The experience of Moadamiya shows a general pattern: Assad uses "local ceasefires" as diplomatic companions to his military sieges. He surrounds a town, starves its residents, then offers a "local ceasefire" in exchange for food. After residents surrender weapons or other strategic advantages, Assad resumes the siege and locals are less able to defend themselves. Unfortunately, De Mistura's initiative matches this pattern.

 On February 17, 2015, de Mistura announced that he had persuaded Assad to stop shelling Aleppo, while Assad-allied forces backed by Iran cut the last large Aleppo supply line. Assad was exploiting the U.N. ceasefires proposal to legitimate his "local ceasefires" strategy. His message to the rebels: accept my "local ceasefire," which is backed by the U.N. this time, or starve like your compatriots in Moadamiya. Rebels chose a third option. They launched a fierce counterattack, repulsed regime forces, and rejected the deal.

 On Tuesday, the Moadamiya local council called for U.N. monitors to enter the town and observe Assad's violations of the ceasefire. De Mistura should work to meet this demand, in Moadamiya and in all towns that have been starved into bogus "local ceasefires." While this is no substitute for Syria-wide democratic transition talks, it is an important step toward putting diplomatic pressure where it really belongs, on Bashar al-Assad.'

The wars that come back to haunt us

 'Tony Blair is still pilloried for the decisions he took over Iraq. David Cameron should not escape blame for his role in conflicts that are still raging.'

 It took me two looks at this to see that Patrick Cockburn not only wants to blame Cameron for things he hasn't done, but actually exonerate Tony Blair for taking us into the Iraq War.

 'Tony Blair is still pilloried for the decisions he took over going to war in Iraq in 2003. Focus on the decisions taken in the lead-up to the invasion has become a national obsession in which Blair is a scapegoat, as if most of the British establishment and popular opinion did not support him at the time.'

 I suppose this is due to Cockburn's adoption of Blair's belief in the War on Terror and love of dictators. His claim they we forget the destruction thereafter is further nonsense of the mistakes were made, but you have to accept that he acted in good faith even if the intelligence was wrong, defence that Blair himself deploys. It is also untrue, every opponent of the war I ever heard precisely pointed to the continuing violence as proof that Bush and Blair's war was not one of liberation.

 'A problem about this obsession with the events of 2002 and 2003 is that they have led to amnesia about what happened subsequently in Iraq and Afghanistan.'

 So to Libya.

 'Few recall that David Cameron led Britain into one war in Libya that overthrew Gaddafi, but was disastrous for most Libyans. Without this conflict, the drowned bodies of would-be emigrants to Europe would not be washing up in their hundreds on Libyan beaches.'

 The emigrants are coming from Syria and Eritrea, and points further south. If Gaddafi's police state were still in place, that would just have made their journey more perilous. And as Clay Claiborne has pointed out*, the NATO bombing only killed 75 civilians, so can barely be described as a war, let alone the cause of Libya's current ills. There is every reason to believe that the 'militias battling in streets and buildings shattered by shellfire,' are due to lack of support for Libya's new government, not the reverse.

 'Another scene worth revisiting via YouTube is the House of Commons on 29 August 2013, when Cameron lost the vote which would have opened the door to British military intervention in Syria. Ostensibly this was in response to the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government in Damascus, but would have had an effect only if it had turned into a Libyan-type air campaign to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad. There is every reason to believe that al-Qaeda-type movements would have filled the vacuum and Syria would have descended even deeper into anarchy.'

 He lost the vote, so even before I point out that he made no attempt to win it, not putting on a three-line whip, it is only because Cockburn is struggling to build his case that something Cameron didn't do is supposed to matter so much. Ostensibly the world has promised to stop such crimes against humanity as the use of chemical weapons, but that's not a concern for Cockburn. We've already dealt with the Libyan-type air campaign, the greatest amount of bombing suggested was by John McCain who proposed the bombing of Assad's airfields, no more, which might have stopped the two years of barrel bombing, leaving Assad without a feasible strategy to hang on. There is reason to believe that al-Qaida would have filled the vacuum that Assad left, if you assume that Syrians naturally hate freedom and love extremism, and ignore the growth in support for extremism has gone along with Assad's destruction, as Cockburn's opponents have predicted, and it has been encouraged by Assad, as Cockburn has always denied.

 'True, British aircraft are carrying out strikes against Islamic State (Isis) in Iraq, but this is a largely symbolic involvement, as a glance at a list of airstrikes carried out by the RAF in March shows. The strikes are few in number and may involve eliminating a single bunker or vehicle.'

 This is a useful reminder than Britain is hardly involved in a war in the Middle East now, which Cockburn doesn't like.

 'The Conservative government escapes blame for recent debacles in the Middle East because few in Britain want greater military involvement. But we cannot ignore the region because, while we may not go to the Middle East, the Middle East and its crises will come to us.'

 So we need to befriend Assad and Iran, and crush any opposition which might involve Sunni Muslims. I hope it's inevitable that people see this is wrong.

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

Regime heeds Grand Mufti’s call to ‘exterminate’ Aleppo

 Genocide is another name for it.

 'The attacks come in the wake of Grand Mufti Ahmad Hassoun’s demand for the “annihilation” of areas used to launch attacks on regime positions in Aleppo city last Friday via state television and a widely circulated audio clip.

 SNHR called the Mufti’s demands a “deliberate crime” and noted that following Hassoun’s fatwa would result in the deaths of millions of people. Nearly 90 percent of the people killed in this week’s attacks have been civilians.'

The defense of inaction in Syria

 ' “During every visit I was asked the same thing: Why has the world abandoned us? Why does nobody care?”

 The fashionable Washington answer to those questions today is that the world is doing nothing because nothing can be done. Muslims will kill Muslims, Sunni will hate Shia, and the civilized world must watch regretfully from the sidelines until the fever burns itself out.

 When Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad began waging war against what started as a peaceful movement for democracy, Obama could have authorized training for a moderate, multi-sectarian resistance. When Assad began dropping shrapnel-filled barrel bombs on apartment buildings full of children — the signature weapon of his war, as machetes were to the Rwandan genocide — Obama could have destroyed Assad’s helicopters or given the resistance the weapons to do so. He could have, with allies, offered air cover for a safe zone in northern Syria where people at least could find some refuge from Assad’s attacks.

 At each turn, many people, including his own advisers, warned that a failure to act would allow extremists to extend their sway. Now the fulfillment of those warnings — the presence of extremists — provides one more pretext for inaction.

 What’s different about Obama is his assertive defense of inaction. Shortly after his reelection, in an interview with the New Republic, he asked, “And how do I weigh tens of thousands who’ve been killed in Syria versus the tens of thousands who are currently being killed in the Congo?” Later in 2013, speaking to the United Nations, he defended U.S. reticence in Syria by asserting that defense of democracy and human rights was not a “core interest” of the United States — unlike, for example, ensuring “the free flow of energy.” Some may welcome this dry-eyed realism; after all, what good did Clinton’s admission of fault do the Tutsis? Better that people know not to await a U.S. rescue that is never going to come.'

A Crime Against Humanity

 'Our work to find witnesses took us out into the desert. The refugees we found were on the run from the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

 Millions of Syrians have fled the country into desolate refugee camps like this one and over a period of weeks we have been able to find more survivors of the nerve gas attack. These people asked us to not show you their faces or tell you their names because they have family back in Syria and they are quite certain the dictatorship would hunt them down. Even at that, they told us some risks have to be taken to tell this story.

 This man told us, "Assad gassed people. He killed people. He's killing women.

 What he did could not be done by any other human being. He killed everything, even the trees." '

Syrians urge ‘decisive storm’ against Assad

 'Syrian regime airstrikes pounded Aleppo and Idlib Friday as anti-regime protesters called for foreign military intervention in the country, while rebel groups said they had ended the presence ofISIS jihadis in eastern Damascus after a 24-hour campaign.

 One protester, in the town of Saqba outside Damascus, held a sign saying that the hoped-for intervention would rid Syria of “Iranian occupation.” '

 As did the one in the picture, so you might focus on their desire to stop foreign occupation of their country. And ISIS would never have got into the eastern suburbs of Damascus without, guess what, Assad letting them.

Government again accused of using chemical weapons

 Patrick Cockburn is still trying to spin things for Assad, but it is an uphill struggle.

 'The Syrian air force is notorious for responding to rebel attacks by indiscriminate bombing of any area it believes to be in rebel hands.'

 As if they don't know which areas are in rebel hands.

 'The use of poison gas may be a measure of Syrian desperation.'

 Syrian government desperation. As if his opponents were the foreigners, rather than the militias keeping him in place. It might be a typo, as there was another in the sentence.



 'Syrian helicopters are alleged to have dropped bombs on the city itself.'

 Given that there is an eyewitness, who else could have dropped it?

 'Jabhat al-Nusra and other opposition groups such as Ahrar al-Sham.'

 That he's having to mention other opposition groups rather than making out it is all about al-Qaida seems like a sign that he has seen how unconvincing he'd become.

 'With Jabhat al-Nusra making advances in the north and Islamic Fighters taking over most of Yarmouk Palestinian Camp, the government has suffered a series of reverses.'

 The reverse the government seems to have suffered is that ISIS were forced out of the camp without it having to be surrendered to Assad's forces.



 'Despite a shortage of recruits, it is, however, expected to launch a counter-offensive to recapture Idlib.'

 By who exactly?

 'As the fighting intensifies the government is likely to use any weapon it can get its hands on, including chemical weapons.'

 As it has all along, because it is an illegitimate government that has destroyed its social base and had to replace almost all consent with control, which can only destroy the country and torture and murder what is left. The Syrian people need the means to resist such destruction, not have their resistance pretended to be dragging the West into a war, nothing more than exiles in five-star Turkish hotels or nothing but Islamic extremism. That's how Syria got to be such a mess. And as Assad has trouble recruiting an army, he can be stopped if only his foreign intervention is stopped.

Inside the Homs Uprising by Jonathan Littell

 'On his return, Littell warned Alain Juppe, then French foreign minister, that “the regime was doing its utmost to provoke cycles of sectarian violence while the FSA was frantically trying to contain them; born out of despair the Islamist temptation was growing but had yet to gain any serious ground.” Tragically, Islamic State is one consequence of the West’s inaction.'

Why we’re failing to hold Bashar al-Assad to account

 'Assad is still gassing children to death. We’re still letting him get away with it. Those wondering why the West has so few friends among Syrian rebels might want to start there.'

Syria Conflict

 'A man mourns next to a body wrapped in shrouds following reported air strikes by government forces on a rebel held area in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on April 17, 2015.'

Idlib’s Liberation Thoroughly Exposed Pro-Assad Media

 'The regime decided that if it was going to lose Idlib, then the prisoners in its dungeons weren’t going to taste freedom at all. If they couldn’t have Idlib, nobody could. 15 prisoners were summarily executed in the flight from the city. Thankfully the Free Men of the Levant (حركة أحرار الشام الإسلامية ‎ Ahrār ash-Shām) movement freed some 53 overjoyed prisoners from regime hellholes. The liberation was greeted with joy by the civilians of Idlib city, having lived under regime control for three years.Free Syrian Army men were slaughtered with car bombs, beheadings and torture, while Syrian army units sat nearby, completely untouched. While Assad’s army attacked them in Aleppo from one side, Da’esh terrorists assaulted them from the other side. Did Da’esh even deal any genuine blows to the regime? Study maps by Arabthomness from before and after they entered Syria, and come to your own conclusion.

 What should have been touted to the increasingly ignorant world as a major source of hope for the Syrian revolution, and a wake-up call to those claiming the Free Syrian Army somehow doesn’t exist any more (in that case, the author has many invisible friends) turned into a pathetic knee-jerk reaction; a repetitive, regurgitated cascade of rubbish which demonising Syrian fighters from all walks of life that united to free a city from the Assad regime (including Christians, Druze, and FSA groups) as “al-Qaeda”.'

FSA: Nusra ‘needs to act and split off from al-Qaida’

 "The harsh language in these announcements is not intended as a declaration of war. Rather, it is intended as a strong push for Nusra to determine its options and take steps [to benefit] the Syrian revolution, and break its ties with al-Qaida."

In the Middle East, our enemy's enemy must be our friend

 Patrick Cockburn adopts the disastrous justification for the War on Terror wholesale. Never mind it is the dictators that give rise to the extremists, never mind that in Assad's case he has been supporting them directly. Never mind that the people of Idlib feel liberated by Jabhat al-Nusra in a way they do not with Assad or his friends in ISIS. The idea that we should be bombing Idlib to keep Assad in power is flat out crazy, but the logical conclusion of saying the problem is not Assad but American intervention is to whitewash Assad's crimes so you can pretend the alternatives are worse.

 'In Syria, similarly, “the enemy of our enemy” and the strongest military force is the Syrian army, though it shows signs of weakening after four years of war. But if we have decided that US air power is not to be used against Isis or Jabhat al-Nusra when they are fighting the Syrian army because we want to get rid of President Bashar al-Assad, then this is a decision that benefits Isis, Jabhat al-Nusra and extreme jihadis.'

The Starving of Yarmouk, Then the Capture

 Qusai Zakarya:

 'You cannot understand the Islamic State’s assault on the camp or what it means unless you also consider how Bashar al-Assad, as a gift to the Palestinian people, turned a thriving neighborhood of hundreds of thousands of people into a desperate population of 18,000 waiting to die. We cannot stop what happened in Yarmouk from repeating itself elsewhere unless we save the 600,000 besieged civilians whom Assad is starving to death.

 What happened in Yarmouk and al-Hajar al-Aswad can happen in other besieged areas in the capital. For Syrians under siege, surrendering to Assad or joining the Islamic State are two sides of the same coin: They are both the result of desperation from starvation. When you see Assad bragging in the media that some besieged Syrians have surrendered, you can bet there are others who just secretly joined the Islamic State. So long as Assad’s starvation sieges continue to weaken the Syrian people, the Islamic State will find an opening by persuasion or conquest.'

Imam assassinated on London street by Syrian hit squad

 'Fierce critic of Assad regime found slumped in car with chest wounds after daylight attack.'

 Assad brings his terrorism to London.

Rebels Fear Islamist Takeover, Civilians Fear Assad

 ' "Jund al-Aqsa and JAN previously had some differences in the liberated areas and attacked numerous factions, but we will think positively and pray that their behavior will be different in Idlib," Seejri said. "But if things remain the same -- with both JAN and Jund al-Aqsa remaining as we have known them -- then the situation would not bode well."

 "This media propaganda about this faction being moderate or of being extreme Islamists or aiming at creating an Islamic State is false. All of the factions, including JAN, Jund al-Aqsa, and all the others have a 10 percent element that can be described as extremist," Aroor said. All of the armed factions in Idlib would work together to "bring about the beginnings of a revolutionary region that will become a buffer zone and will represent the beginning of a new modern Syria."

 "The Raqqa environment that facilitated IS control was created by the withdrawal of the Syrian regime and its voluntary handover of the region to [the IS group]. I can confirm that Syrian regime warplanes were roaming the skies over Raqqa where IS banners and flags were flying all over the city for two years without firing a single shot. I don't believe that this will be repeated in Idlib because of its closeness to the coastal area, and this would constitute a threat to the regime."

 "The fear is that the regime will return at night to infiltrate the residential districts to seek revenge. We feared only the regime's forces in that they would use chemical weapons and chlorine against us. That is what drove us out." '

Why Yarmouk's takeover by ISIS is good news for Assad

 'The regime, following the loss of Idlib, is now concerned it could also lose the southern city of Daraa, where more moderate Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels have been making significant gains. The regime has started to move its administrative bureaus out of the area as it did just before Idlib's fall.

 Yarmouk is only 100 kilometers away from Daraa. If ISIS, now in control of the camp, uses it as a base to attack the FSA in Daraa, it would save the Syrian regime from having to fight that battle itself.

 This tactic is not new. ISIS has been attempting to gain a foothold in FSA-controlled southern Syria for several months, relying on local recruitment of Syrians and Palestinians to have a presence in an area. Throughout this time, the Syrian regime has also been indirectly enabling ISIS access to the south because this serves the regime's aim of crushing the moderate opposition in the area.

 But the Yarmouk scenario is also about countering the gains of al-Nusra in Idlib. Unable to overwhelm al-Nusra militarily, the Syrian regime tried to indirectly use Yarmouk as a way to discredit al-Nusra through facilitating the access of ISIS to the camp.

 After ISIS was provoked by a Palestinian brigade in the Yarmouk camp, Aknaf Bayt al-Maqdis -- a group which had threated ISIS after accusing it of murdering one of its leaders -- the regime did not stand in the way of ISIS fighters who raided the camp. The regime had already besieged Yarmouk for several months and starved its residents, so it was no regime stronghold. Allowing ISIS to take over the camp was only a small sacrifice for Assad.
In return, the regime calculated that ISIS' takeover of the camp would achieve a much bigger gain: sparking a rift within al-Nusra.

 Although the group is officially an enemy of ISIS -- the latter has declared al-Nusra an apostate -- some al-Nusra brigades in southern Syria have personal connections with ISIS leaders.

 The ISIS advance in Yarmouk pushed the al-Nusra brigades that are sympathetic to ISIS to help it on the ground. The attack also forced the al-Nusra brigades opposed to ISIS to stay out of the battle so as not to spark a hot war between the two groups that would detract them from achieving their objectives (establishing a caliphate in the case of ISIS, and fighting the regime in the case of al-Nusra).

 The regime's calculation was that this contradiction between the actions of some al-Nusra brigades and the "neutrality" of others would embarrass the leaders of al-Nusra and hurt the group's credibility.

 Indeed, public criticisms of al-Nusra's apparent flip-flopping in Yarmouk have already begun to emerge -- and rival groups see in the Yarmouk scenario an opportunity to reassert themselves in the face of al-Nusra.

 Damaging Jabhat al-Nusra's credibility is crucial for Assad. Unlike ISIS, which has largely refrained from attacking the regime as it concentrates on building its state-within-a-state, al-Nusra in particular has always had fighting Assad its sole raison d'être.

 In Idlib, Jaysh al-Fateh -- which again, is partly comprised of al-Nusra -- is now working on creating a joint civilian-military administration similar to the model offered by the FSA in the south. This model is more acceptable to the local population than an Islamist mode of governance, and is a way for al-Nusra as well as the FSA to demonstrate that they can offer a better alternative to the regime. Any further growth of al-Nusra therefore means a growing concrete threat to the Syrian regime.

 The takeover of the Yarmouk camp has therefore been a wily and tactical maneuver by the Syrian regime. But its success remains to be seen. So far, al-Nusra has released a statement distancing itself from the events in Yarmouk, and has handed over control of the main crossing on the Syrian-Jordanian border near Daraa to the FSA. Whether this indicates that the Islamist Jaysh al-Fateh and the moderate FSA are exploring a pragmatic formula to increase their cooperation in the future is an open question.'

The Nusra Front’s Game-Changing Rise in Syria

 'Nusra’s pragmatism means that it wants to be represented at the table when a political deal on Syria is formulated, and that, coupled with Nusra’s popularity, is why it is a more significant threat to the regime than the Islamic State.

 Instead of putting Nusra and the Islamic State in the same basket, the West should look beyond the Nusra Front’s ideological affiliation and encourage its pragmatism as it seeks an end to the Syrian conflict.'

 I'm not sure everything in this article has the right emphasis, al-Nusra does seem more committed to the fight against Assad than against the FSA. Incidentally, all of the rebel factions in Aleppo apart from al-Nusra have united under the Free Syrian flag.*
*[https://www.zamanalwsl.net/news/59611.html]



Note 1/5/25, second link can't be retrieved.

Syria twist on Romeo and Juliet

 “We wanted, through this unique work, to draw attention to the areas under siege by the regime in Syria after the failure of humanitarian organisations to send food, water and medicine there,” said the play’s director, acclaimed Syrian actor Nawar Bulbul.

 “We also wanted to send a message to the world that the besieged people are not terrorists but children threatened by shelling, death and destruction.”

Syrian civil war continues to take toll on UCLA students

 'Naji said she thinks the strictness of the authoritarian government in Syria has engendered fear in some citizens that they are constantly being watched.

 When the Syrian government visited Naji’s grandmother and aunt in 2013, Naji said her aunt had to stuff her “Free Syria” flag in the drain of the kitchen sink to hide it from government home inspectors, who performed random searches to make sure civilians weren’t collaborating with rebel forces.

 Naji said she remembers how difficult it was early in the war to learn about the situation.
“Every time we would ask our family, ‘Is there something going on?’ they would have to say ‘no’ for their lives,” she said.

 Gelvin said he thinks the complexity of the war has caused many to predict a bleak future.
“It’s going to end up with both sides exhausted, but like prize fighters not able to deliver a final blow,” Gelvin said. “A permanent failed state is the prospect. (Syria has) disappeared from the face of the earth.”

 Despite this forecast, Basrawi said he believes the best solution to the war is to establish Syria as a heterogeneous nation full of a diverse range of people. He said he thinks the government should provide its citizens with many of the same freedoms democracies provide their citizens.'

“A Necessary, If Still Unpalatable, Potential Ally”

 'Remember these words the next time the New York Times runs a pious editorial decrying—with a spurious combination of selective facts and distorted law—some morally complicated aspect of U.S. counterterrorism policy.

 Remember them the next time the New York Times runs an editorial invoking the great moral authority of the paper of record on, well, just about anything.

 Remember them because the quotation, which appears in the last paragraph of today’s editorial, “The Crimes of Terrorists,” is—astonishingly, really—how the New York Times editorial page describes the genocidal Syrian dictator, Bashar Al-Assad.

 It doesn’t merely tacitly accept that our actions may bolster his position. It regard him as an ally—albeit an ally with some modifying adjectives like “unpalatable” and “potential” attached. In truth, however, the only adjective that really matters here is the first one: “necessary.” The others are just palliatives to make the editorial board feel better about its moral choice to align itself with a man responsible for an estimated 200,000 dead Syrians, the physical destruction of one of the world’s oldest civilizations, and the world’s largest refugee crisis.

 It’s a good thing the Times is keeping the faith about the dangers of NSA surveillance, the moral necessity of closing Guantanamo, the crucial importance of accountability in drone strikes, and the urgency of a laser-like focus on CIA interrogations that took place more than a decade ago.

 After all, some principles, even if not genocide, brook no compromise.'

Assad on the back foot

 'It is unlikely that these victories for the rebels will spur America to increase its modest support for them, especially around Idleb, where Jabhat al-Nusra is the strongest force. The southern rebels have received more help, since they have fewer jihadists in their ranks and are less fragmented. But an American plan to train and equip 5,000 vetted men has still to get going. On March 27th Turkey said that the Americans had delayed their plans to start training there, for unspecified reasons.

 So Syria’s fate may depend ever more on how well Mr Assad’s regime hangs together—and on Iran. His army and paramilitary forces often clash. Hizbullah men talk of Syrian soldiers firing on them. Syrian soldiers, in turn, are annoyed by Iranian and Hizbullah checkpoints set up to ensure that they stay in line. Syrian soldiers have long found understandings with rebels; sometimes they agree not to fight, while the rebels sometimes buy ammunition from the soldiers. Overall, Mr Assad’s position is being hollowed out. “The regime is in charge of administrative matters,” says the same Damascus man. “But Iran is ever more in control militarily.”

 That could pave the way to negotiations, since it still seems unlikely that either side will win militarily. Iran’s rulers may be more pragmatic than Mr Assad, who wants to cling to power at any cost. There are signs that they see him as a burden; Hizbullah certainly does. If nuclear talks with Iran come good, some Syrians hope for a solution in their own country. “We’ll get rid of Mr Assad at some point,” says a Hizbullah commander. “I think Iran is just waiting until the right time.” '

What Happened in Homs

 'The people still believed that song, dance, slogans, and prayer were stronger than fear and bullets. They were wrong, of course, and their illusions would soon drown in a river of blood.

 America, traumatized by two useless and disastrous wars to the point of forgetting its own founding myth—that of a people rising against tyranny with their hunting guns, helped only by indomitable spirit and idealism—stood back and watched, petrified. Europe, weakened by economic crisis and self-doubt, followed suit, while the regime’s friends, Russia and Iran, occupied every inch of the political space thus made available. And geopolitics is always written with the blood of the people. The day after I left Homs, on February 3, a series of mortar shells targeted the neighborhood of al-Khalidiya, where I had spent so much time, killing over 140 civilians. As Talal Derki, the Syrian director and narrator of the magnificent documentary Return to Homs, comments at that point in his film, this mass murder was the turn of the revolution: “The dream of a revolution with songs and peaceful protests ended.”

 Mani and I were able to document what seems to have been the first deliberate sectarian massacre of the conflict, the murder with guns and knives of an entire Sunni family in the Nasihin neighborhood on the afternoon of January 26, 2012. Many more would follow, first of other families, then of entire Sunni communities in the village belt surrounding Homs to the West, in the foothills of the Jabal an-Nusayriyah, the so-called “Alawite mountain” from which the regime continues to draw its main support. Up to that point, as all our interlocutors kept repeating to us and as we witnessed in the demonstrations, the revolutionaries were doing everything in their power to prevent the descent into sectarian warfare; the FSA response to this massacre was not to slaughter an Alawite family, but to attack the army checkpoints from which the murderers had come.'