Protests in Syria

[JStone]

The people fighting Assad are now using suicide bombing and IED's, similar to the people we fought against in Iraq. I definently don't see any good guys over there either.

Most of the good guys left long ago and now live in New York and elsewhere in the US. The biggest mansions in Brooklyn and Deal, NJ are owned by the good Syrians

I remember reading a link on that, the piece I read about the Syrian Jews in Brooklyn was very interesting.

Different article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/nyregion/25deal.html

 

[High_Gravity]

Red Cross: 1.5 Million in Syria Lack Basics

(GENEVA) Fighting in parts of Syria has morphed into local guerrilla wars, the Red Cross said Tuesday, where the number of prisoners remains unknown and 1.5 million people need help getting food, water, shelter, power and sanitation.

Fighting in the central city of Homs, where U.N. observers helped halt weeks of artillery attacks, and in the northern Syrian town of Idlib are now non-international armed conflicts, said Jakob Kellenberger, president of International Committee of the Red Cross.

"The type of the violence has changed a little bit," Kellenberger told a news conference at ICRC headquarters in Geneva. "At least in recent weeks, you have no longer these big battles like one had in Homs in the second half of February. You have more guerrilla attacks and bomb attacks."

Tens of thousands of people are living in public buildings or other people's homes, and the Red Cross and Syrian Arab Red Crescent is feeding about 100,000 "particularly vulnerable" Syrians, he said.

Kellenberger spoke ahead of international envoy Kofi Annan's assessment of the revolt in Syria to the U.N. Security Council later Tuesday.

He also said ICRC has gained permission to visit detainees at Aleppo's central prison from May 14-23 and is pushing for access to others.

What began as a largely peaceful protest movement has evolved into more Syrians taking up arms in the face of President Bashar Assad's violent crackdown on dissent. The U.N. says more than 9,000 people have been killed in the past 14 months since Assad, who inherited power from his father in 2000, began his crackdown.

The U.N., meantime, it is appealing for $27 million to quickly scale up aid.

Read more: Red Cross: 1.5 Million in Syria Lack Basics - TIME

 

[High_Gravity]

The chickens are home and they are roosting.

Syria Bombing: Dozens Killed In Twin Damascus Bomb Blasts

DAMASCUS, Syria — Two suicide car bombs ripped through the Syrian capital Thursday, killing 55 people and shaving the facade off a military intelligence building in the deadliest explosions since the country's uprising began 14 months ago, the Interior Ministry said.

Residents told an Associated Press reporter that the blasts happened in quick succession during morning rush hour, with an initial small explosion followed by a larger bomb that appeared aimed at onlookers and rescue crews arriving at the scene. Paramedics wearing rubber gloves collected human remains from the pavement as heavily damaged cars and pickup trucks smoldered.

There was no claim of responsibility for Thursday's blasts. But an al-Qaida-inspired group has claimed responsibility for several past explosions, raising fears that terrorist groups are entering the fray and exploiting the chaos.

In addition to the 55 dead, the ministry also said there were 15 bags of human remains, meaning the death toll was likely to rise.

More than 370 people also were wounded in the attack, according to the ministry, which is in charge of the country's internal security. It said the explosives weighed more than 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds).

Central Damascus is under the tight control of forces loyal to President Bashar Assad but has been struck by several bomb attacks, often targeting security installations or convoys, since the revolt against him began in March 2011.

But the previous attacks happened on a weekend when many people stay home from work, making it less likely for civilians to be killed. Thursday's blast was similar to attacks waged by al-Qaida in Iraq, which would bolster past allegations by top U.S. intelligence officials that the terror network from the neighboring country was the likely culprit behind previous bombings in Syria. That raises the possibility that its fighters are infiltrating across the border to take advantage of the political turmoil.

A shadowy group called the Al-Nusra Front has claimed responsibility for some of the attacks in statements posted on militant websites. Little is known about the group, though Western intelligence officials say it could be a front for al-Qaida's Iraq branch.

Syria Bombing: Dozens Killed In Twin Damascus Bomb Blasts (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

 

[High_Gravity]

Syria Crisis: New Bomb Attack Foiled In Aleppo, Regime Says

BEIRUT, May 11 (Reuters) - Syrian forces foiled an attempted suicide car bombing with 1,200 kg (2,640 pounds) of explosives in the northern city of Aleppo on Friday, state television said, a day after two bombs in the capital Damascus killed at least 55 people.

The would-be bomber was killed in the al Shaar district of Syria's largest city which, like Damascus, has seen increasing street protests against President Bashar al-Assad and rising levels of bloodshed after months of relative calm.

Twin bombings in southern Damascus killed 55 people and wounded more than 300 on Thursday, the deadliest attacks since the uprising against Assad erupted 14 months ago, inspired by revolts against autocratic rulers elsewhere in the Arab world.

The blasts further undermined a tattered ceasefire agreement repeatedly violated by the army and rebels since it was brokered by international mediator Kofi Annan four weeks ago. The deal has been overseen by nearly 150 unarmed U.N. observers in Syria.

Syria said the attacks showed that it faced foreign-backed terrorism - an argument it made from the start of peaceful protests against Assad in March last year - while the opposition blamed authorities for the blasts.

Syria's Ikhbariya television showed U.N. monitors inspecting a white mini-van in Aleppo on Friday which an army officer told them had contained enough explosive to kill 500 people. The bloodied body of the van driver lay crumpled in the front seat, behind a windscreen riddled with bullet holes.

The officer told the U.N. observers the driver, who he said was not Syrian, was shot before he could detonate the bombs.

There was no claim of responsibility for the Damascus bombings. Syrian authorities blamed foreign-backed terrorists. Opposition activists denied any involvement. Some analysts have speculated that recent bombings could be the work of al Qaeda-linked Islamists with skills honed by years of activity in Iraq.

Protests erupted in several Syrian cities on Friday after weekly Muslim prayers. Opposition activists said security forces fired on demonstrators in Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo.

Syria Crisis: New Bomb Attack Foiled In Aleppo, Regime Says

 

[High_Gravity]

Syria Crisis: Syrian Army, Opposition Fighters Clash In Rastan

AMMAN, May 14 (Reuters) - Rebels killed 23 Syrian soldiers on Monday, according to a rights group opposed to President Bashar al-Assad, in battles around the town of Rastan that further undermined a sagging U.N.-backed ceasefire.

The fighting on the outskirts of Rastan followed heavy army shelling of the town in which opposition sources said at least nine people were killed, including a local rebel commander.

Rastan, 25 km (15 miles) north of Homs city, has slipped in and out of government control several times since the uprising against Assad erupted in March 2011.

Shelling began on Sunday and intensified overnight, activists said, a new blow to a ceasefire declared by peace envoy Kofi Annan a month ago and which U.N. monitoring mission on the ground are observing.

"Shells and rockets have been hitting the town since three a.m. (midnight GMT) at a rate of one a minute. Rastan has been destroyed," a member of the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA)in Rastan who declined to be named told Reuters by satellite phone.

He said among those killed was Ahmad Ayoub, an FSA commander whose fighters were battling the army forces which he said were made up of elite units and members of Military Intelligence.

The British-based Observatory said fighting began at dawn on Monday and that rebels destroyed three armoured personnel carriers and seized two others, capturing around 15 soldiers.

Syria's uprising began as a peaceful protest movement but has become increasingly militarised as rebels fight back against Assad's violent crackdown. Syria restricts media access, making it difficult to verify accounts of the unrest.

Syria's Sunni majority is at the forefront of the uprising against Assad, whose minority Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam. Assad's government says it is fighting a terrorist attempt to divide Syria.

Syria Crisis: Syrian Army, Opposition Fighters Clash In Rastan

 

[JStone]

Syria Crisis: Syrian Army, Opposition Fighters Clash In Rastan

AMMAN, May 14 (Reuters) - Rebels killed 23 Syrian soldiers on Monday, according to a rights group opposed to President Bashar al-Assad, in battles around the town of Rastan that further undermined a sagging U.N.-backed ceasefire.

The fighting on the outskirts of Rastan followed heavy army shelling of the town in which opposition sources said at least nine people were killed, including a local rebel commander.

Rastan, 25 km (15 miles) north of Homs city, has slipped in and out of government control several times since the uprising against Assad erupted in March 2011.

Shelling began on Sunday and intensified overnight, activists said, a new blow to a ceasefire declared by peace envoy Kofi Annan a month ago and which U.N. monitoring mission on the ground are observing.

"Shells and rockets have been hitting the town since three a.m. (midnight GMT) at a rate of one a minute. Rastan has been destroyed," a member of the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA)in Rastan who declined to be named told Reuters by satellite phone.

He said among those killed was Ahmad Ayoub, an FSA commander whose fighters were battling the army forces which he said were made up of elite units and members of Military Intelligence.

The British-based Observatory said fighting began at dawn on Monday and that rebels destroyed three armoured personnel carriers and seized two others, capturing around 15 soldiers.

Syria's uprising began as a peaceful protest movement but has become increasingly militarised as rebels fight back against Assad's violent crackdown. Syria restricts media access, making it difficult to verify accounts of the unrest.

Syria's Sunni majority is at the forefront of the uprising against Assad, whose minority Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam. Assad's government says it is fighting a terrorist attempt to divide Syria.

Syria Crisis: Syrian Army, Opposition Fighters Clash In Rastan

I guess they didn't have a happy Mother's Day.

 

[ERGO]

It is now a matter of established public record that the “Libyan rebels” the US, through the UN and NATO, funded, armed, trained, recognized politically, and even provided special forces and air support for, were in fact led by the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), listed by the US State Department (page 1 links below) as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization.” Two West Point reports confirm that LIFG was formally joined with Al Qaeda with many of its top leaders
constituting the core of Al Qaeda’s upper echelons.
Land Destroyer: Al Qaeda LIFG leader Abdul Belhaj writes column for Guardian!
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/65479.pdf

In the wake of growing international anger toward Wall Street, London, and its NATO forces, led by Russia and China’s vetoing of their UN Security Council resolution designed to tip off another foreign military intervention, this time in Syria, the corporate media is now reportingthat Al Qaeda has called on its supporters to “join the uprising against Assad’s “pernicious, cancerous regime.”" We are expected to believe that Al Qaeda allegedly depraved, beheading, civilian bombing, trade tower-toppling modern-day Huns had pinned their hopes on the UNSC to resolve the Syrian conflict through the mechanisms of “international rule of law” and are only just now mobilizing their forces to act after the “disappointing” Russian and Chinese veto. It is a narrative as bizarre as it is contradictory.
We are also expected to believe that as large swaths of the global population begin turning against what is obviously fraudulent human rights concerns masking naked global military conquest by the West, the extremist ranks of Al Qaeda whom the West was supposedly locked in mortal combat with for over a decade are one of their few remaining allies. Considering that the West, and more specifically, the CIA, created Al Qaeda in the mountains of Afghanistan in the first place, it seems as if the terrorist organization has and still is executing US foreign policy covertly and illegally, when the US military and its NATO allies cannot.
Land Destroyer: Syria: NATO Genocide Approaches
Land Destroyer: The War on Terror is a Fraud

 

[JStone]

Arabs must leave the planet

 

[ERGO]

Arabs must leave the planet

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYBsDwjezQI]Top Rabbi Exposes Jewish Racism! - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlpmRMximW4&feature=related&skipcontrinter=1]The Racial Supremacist State of Israel - YouTube[/ame]

 

[JStone]

The world would be a far better place without arabs and muslimes.

Iran Iraq War, 1 million dead
Lebanese Civil War, 250,000 dead
Algerian Civl War: 300,000 dead
Bangladesh Civil War: 500,000 dead
Black Sept., Jordan's King Hussein murders, expells 80,000 Palestinians
Syrian army kills 20,000 Syrians at Hama
Iraq gases hundreds of thousands of Kurds
1400 year conflict between Sunnis and Shiites
Fratricide between Hamas and Fatah
Syria/Hizballah assassinate Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri

Alexis de Toqueville...

I studied the Koran a great deal. I came away from that study with the conviction there have been few religions in the world as deadly to men as that of Muhammad. So far as I can see, it is the principal cause of the decadence so visible today in the Muslim world and, though less absurd than the polytheism of old, its social and political tendencies are in my opinion to be feared, and I therefore regard it as a form of decadence rather than a form of progress in relation to paganism itself.

 

[High_Gravity]

Syria Crisis: Regime Targets Patients And Doctors, Doctors Without Borders Says

BEIRUT — The U.N.'s observer mission in Syria was caught up in a burst of violence Tuesday captured on video, with a roadside bomb damaging its cars just minutes after witnesses said regime forces gunned down mourners at a funeral procession nearby.

The mission confirmed its vehicles were hit by a bomb shortly after they met with Syrian rebels, and said there were no injuries.

It was not clear how close the observers were to the funeral shootings, but if confirmed, a regime attack on a civilians directly in front of the observer mission could put pressure on them to describe publicly what they are seeing in Syria. They report back to the U.N. but have not publicized their findings.

The attack in the northern town of Khan Sheikhoun is at least the second time that U.N. observers have been caught up in Syria's violence. Last week, a roadside bomb struck a Syrian military truck in the south of the country just seconds after the head of the U.N. observers team drove by in a convoy.

A video of the bomb attack was posted by activists online. "The front of a U.N. car took a direct hit," activist Fadi al-Yassin, who witnessed the incident, told The Associated Press. "Everyone ran in panic but the observers stayed in the car. People tried to talk to them but they wouldn't even open their windows."

Just minutes earlier, Syrian forces fired on a funeral procession, activists said. Al-Yassin and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that as many as 20 people may have been killed and said many others were wounded, some of them in serious condition. It was impossible to independently confirm the toll.

"This is a real massacre and it took place in the presence of U.N. observers," Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the Observatory, said of the attack on the funeral. He called for an international investigation and for the monitors to state publicly what they saw.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...tors-without-borders_n_1517315.html?ref=syria

 

[JStone]

Syria Crisis: Regime Targets Patients And Doctors, Doctors Without Borders Says

BEIRUT — The U.N.'s observer mission in Syria was caught up in a burst of violence Tuesday captured on video, with a roadside bomb damaging its cars just minutes after witnesses said regime forces gunned down mourners at a funeral procession nearby.

The mission confirmed its vehicles were hit by a bomb shortly after they met with Syrian rebels, and said there were no injuries.

It was not clear how close the observers were to the funeral shootings, but if confirmed, a regime attack on a civilians directly in front of the observer mission could put pressure on them to describe publicly what they are seeing in Syria. They report back to the U.N. but have not publicized their findings.

The attack in the northern town of Khan Sheikhoun is at least the second time that U.N. observers have been caught up in Syria's violence. Last week, a roadside bomb struck a Syrian military truck in the south of the country just seconds after the head of the U.N. observers team drove by in a convoy.

A video of the bomb attack was posted by activists online. "The front of a U.N. car took a direct hit," activist Fadi al-Yassin, who witnessed the incident, told The Associated Press. "Everyone ran in panic but the observers stayed in the car. People tried to talk to them but they wouldn't even open their windows."

Just minutes earlier, Syrian forces fired on a funeral procession, activists said. Al-Yassin and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that as many as 20 people may have been killed and said many others were wounded, some of them in serious condition. It was impossible to independently confirm the toll.

"This is a real massacre and it took place in the presence of U.N. observers," Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the Observatory, said of the attack on the funeral. He called for an international investigation and for the monitors to state publicly what they saw.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...tors-without-borders_n_1517315.html?ref=syria

Maybe, Hamas islamonazis can help with intimidation of doctors.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeymPZifhsk]WIDE ANGLE | Gaza E.R. | Excerpt | PBS - YouTube[/ame]

 

[High_Gravity]

Syria Crisis: 'Foreign Mercenaries' To Be Shown To World, Says Assad

BEIRUT — In his first interview since December, Syrian President Bashar Assad insisted Tuesday his regime is fighting back against foreign mercenaries who want to overthrow him, not innocent Syrians aspiring for democracy in a yearlong uprising.

The interview with Russian TV showed Assad is still standing his ground, despite widespread international condemnation over his deadly crackdown on dissent.

"There are foreign mercenaries, some of them still alive," Assad said in an interview broadcast Wednesday on Russian state news channel Rossiya-24. "They are being detained and we are preparing to show them to the world."

Assad also cautioned against meddling in Syria, warning neighboring nations that have served as transit points for contraband weapons being smuggled into the country that "if you sow chaos in Syria you may be infected by it yourself."

He did not elaborate, but rebels and anti-regime activists say Syrian forces have mined many of the smuggling routes where weapons flow into Syria – mainly from neighboring Turkey and Lebanon.

Assad, who inherited power from his father in 2000, still has a firm grip on power in Syria some 14 months into a revolt that has torn at the country's fabric and threatened to undermine stability in the Middle East.

The U.N. estimated in March that the violence has killed more than 9,000 people, and hundreds more have been killed since then as a revolt that began with mostly peaceful calls for reform transforms into an armed insurgency.

A group known as the Free Syrian Army is determined to bring down the regime by force of arms, targeting military checkpoints and other government sites.

A U.N. observer team with more than 200 members has done little to quell the bloodshed, and some even have been caught up in the violence themselves.

Six observers had to be evacuated from a northern town controlled by the opposition Wednesday, a day after a roadside bomb hit their convoy and left them stranded overnight with rebel forces. None of the observers was wounded, and it was not clear who was behind the attack.

The shooting started as the convoy arrived in the opposition area, said Ahmad Fawzi, spokesman for international envoy Kofi Annan.

Syria Crisis: 'Foreign Mercenaries' To Be Shown To World, Says Assad

 

[High_Gravity]

UN Observer In Idlib Shown Fleeing Gunfire In Footage Uploaded By Activist

New footage uploaded to YouTube purportedly shows a UN observer under attack in Idlib, Syria.

The convoy of a team of UN observers came under attack on May 15, 2012, in the province of Khan Sheikhoun. While none of the observers were injured, they were stranded and forced to spend the night with rebel forces, Reuters reports.

The footage below allegedly shows a member of the UN observer team during the attack in Khan Sheikhoun. The videos, tweeted on Thursday by user @HamaEcho, could not be independently verified.

In the first, a man wearing a blue UN observer vest army-crawls away from the fire before being pulled from the street by two men.

UN Observer In Idlib Shown Fleeing Gunfire In Footage Uploaded By Activist

 

[High_Gravity]

Beirut Clashes: 2 Killed In Street Battles As Syria Conflict Spills Over

BEIRUT -- Street battles between pro- and anti-Syrian groups in the Lebanese capital killed two people overnight and wounded 15 as the spiraling conflict in neighboring Syria spilled across the border.

Some Beirut residents kept their children home from school following the fighting, which was among the worst the Lebanese capital has seen in four years. Gunmen fired rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns in battles that lasted more than four hours.

The streets were calmer Monday, but some shops remained closed.

The violence in the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Tariq Jadidah erupted hours after an anti-Syrian cleric and his bodyguard were shot dead at a checkpoint in northern Lebanon, an incident that instantly spiked tensions.

Authorities braced for the possibility of more violence Monday in the north, where Sunni cleric Sheik Ahmed Abdul-Wahid and his bodyguard were to be buried. Gunmen carrying automatic rifles shouted for the downfall of the Syrian regime in the cleric's hometown of Beireh, where he was to be buried later in the day.

The fighting underscores how the bloodshed in Syria, where President Bashar Assad's regime is cracking down on an uprising against his rule, can fuel violence across the border in Lebanon.

Lebanon has a fragile political faultline precisely over the issue of Syria.

There is an array of die-hard pro-Syrian Lebanese parties and politicians, as well as support for the regime on the street level. There is an equally deep hatred of Assad among other Lebanese who fear Damascus is still calling the shots here. The two sides are the legacy of Syria's virtual rule over Lebanon from 1976 to 2005 and its continued influence since.

On Monday, a gunman in Beireh shouted "Down with Bashar!" and said the Syrian leader was trying to "transfer the crisis to Lebanon."

Lebanon and Syria share a complex web of political and sectarian ties and rivalries, which can easily turn violent. Last week, clashes sparked by the Syrian crisis killed at least eight people and wounded dozens in the northern city of Tripoli.

The revolt in Syria began 15 months ago, and there are fears the unrest will lead to a regional conflagration that could draw in neighboring countries. The U.N. estimates the conflict has killed more than 9,000 people since March 2011.

Beirut Clashes: 2 Killed In Street Battles As Syria Conflict Spills Over

 

[High_Gravity]

Syria Prisons Are 'Human Slaughterhouses,' Ex-Detainee Says

AMMAN, Jordan -- A prominent Palestinian writer who was jailed in Syria for nearly three weeks described the facilities as "human slaughterhouses," saying security agents beat detainees with batons, crammed them into stinking cells and tied them to beds at night.

Salameh Kaileh, 56, was arrested April 24 on suspicion of printing leaflets calling for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who is fighting a 15-month-old uprising against his rule. Kaileh's story offers a rare inside glimpse into the conditions faced by detainees held by the country's feared security services.

"It was hell on earth," Kaileh told The Associated Press on Sunday, nearly a week after Syrian forces released him and deported him to Jordan. Speaking at his friend's home in an Amman suburb, Kaileh had bluish-red bruises on his legs, which he said were the result of beatings with wooden batons that were studded with pins and nails.

"I felt I was going to die under the brutal, savage and continuous beating of the interrogators, who tied me to ropes hung from the ceiling," said Kaileh, a soft-spoken man with a shock of white hair who appeared frail, barely able to stand on his feet.

Born in Birzeit, West Bank, Kaileh has suffered under the regime in Damascus before. He was imprisoned by the Syrian government in 1992 for eight years because of his alleged links to underground Syrian communist and leftist opposition groups. A well-known leftist, he has written books on subjects ranging from Marxism to Arab nationalism.

This time, he was held in at least four detention centers after security forces arrested him at his home in Damascus, the Syrian capital where he's lived for more than 30 years.

Kaileh denied printing the leaflets, which he said angered the regime because they read: "For Palestine to be free, Syria's regime has to fall."

Syria often has touted its support of the Palestinian cause to boost its credentials as a bastion of Arab nationalism.

Kaileh's detention caused an outcry by Arab intellectuals, who called for his release and lashed out at Assad – whose crackdown has not spared other intellectuals and artists.

Syria Prisons Are 'Human Slaughterhouses,' Ex-Detainee Says

 

[High_Gravity]

The Syria Paradox

It took a month of protests to depose the president of Tunisia and 18 days to remove Hosni Mubarak from power in Egypt. Libya took longer. Rebels there spent more than eight bloody months fighting Muammar el-Qaddafi before defeating him. But Syria — where protests began at roughly the same time as in Libya — remains in a vicious civil war, and the fighting seems very far from over. One reason for this is simple: Syria’s economy was designed to all but prevent a broad coalition from forming against Bashar al-Assad’s regime. This is, of course, awful news for most Syrians. But it also calls into question some Things We Thought We Knew About Revolutions — the most important being that countries with diverse economies and a growing middle class are supposed to be better at overthrowing despotic rulers than petrocracies like Libya or Iraq.

Once you drive beyond the wealthiest enclaves of Damascus and Aleppo, Syria’s population becomes very poor very fast. Here’s a rough breakdown of the country’s class structure, with some help from Joshua Landis, a professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oklahoma.

Before I visited Syria in 2003 and 2004, I expected it to look like North Korea with souks. But I was surprised to find that Damascus and Aleppo — the two major commercial centers — contain truly affluent neighborhoods. Many locals drove sports cars, wore fancy watches, ate at top-notch restaurants and generally made me feel like a broke hick. And I met a lot of people in the big cities who made a decent living as engineers, doctors, shopkeepers, even artists. They may not have been rich, but they led far more comfortable lives than folks I encountered in neighboring countries like Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq.

Syria’s economy is, within the context of the Middle East, unusually diverse. Agriculture, which employs roughly half the rural population, contributes around 20 percent to gross domestic product. Oil represents another 25 percent. Before the crisis, tourists — especially Arabs, but also some Europeans and the occasional American — visited its beautiful, ancient cities and seaside towns. While it has never been a major global player in manufacturing, Syria has a modest industrial sector that churns out clothes, packaged foods, beverages and, lately, inexpensive cars. Lastly, the country has major phosphate deposits, a mineral that’s in increasing demand as a fertilizer.

When the Baath Party took command of Syria in 1963, its leaders intended to centralize control of the economy, much as Stalin did in Russia or Mao in China. But it didn’t work. The Alawite ethnic and religious minority, which eventually assumed leadership of the party, was made up of poorly educated people from mountain villages who “knew nothing about running a country or an economy,” says Joshua Landis, a pre-eminent Syria watcher and a professor at the University of Oklahoma. The Alawites, he notes, had been given a role by the French colonial government in the military precisely because they had few ties to the majority Sunnis in the big cities: “They were very unsophisticated, and they didn’t have a deep community of cosmopolitan people from which to draw.”

So Hafez al-Assad, father of the current president, allowed a handful of wealthy Sunni and Christian businesspeople to continue running their own factories, shops and restaurants. His son, Bashar, came to power in 2000 and opened up the country a bit more, allowing entrepreneurs with no regime connections to start their own businesses (as long as they gave the government a cut). Some opened boutique hotels or small-scale factories; others imported things like hospital equipment or auto parts. Anything American has been especially popular, one Syrian trader told me. In 2001, Bashar sought membership in the World Trade Organization (still pending), and three years later, Syria had its first private banks. There’s even a modest stock market now, the Damascus Securities Exchange, where wealthy Syrians can buy shares in a couple dozen companies, most of them banks or insurance firms.

This entrepreneurial openness in the cities, however, coincided with a multiyear drought, which has made the miserable conditions of Syria’s farmers even worse. Those who couldn’t make ends meet in the fields moved to crowded suburban slums or to poorer, second-tier cities. The uprisings began in these areas, and they’re where most of the violence is today.

From the outside, it can be hard to see how Assad keeps his grip on the country. In Egypt and Tunisia, powerful militaries ditched their political leaders when they saw a coalition of urban middle class and wealthy people joining poor, rural protesters. But in Syria, the military is far more loyal to the political leaders. And even though the urban elite may not like the Assad regime, and even though they realize that life would be better in a country that doesn’t stifle free expression or support radical political elements in neighboring Lebanon, they’re afraid of what their lives would look like in a revolution’s chaotic aftermath.

As Landis notes: “They look out at the countryside and think: What if these people win? Are they going to respect capitalism? Are they going to preserve our wealth? Or are they going to come by and say, ‘Oh, you’ve been a collaborator for 40 years, and we’re going to take everything you own’? They don’t know.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/magazine/the-syria-paradox.html?_r=1&hp

 

[High_Gravity]

Syria Violence: Syrian Security Forces, Opposition Fighters Continue To Commit Gross Human Rights Violations, UN Reports

GENEVA, May 24 (Reuters) - Syrian forces and opposition fighters continue to commit gross human rights violations in an "increasingly militarised context" despite a shaky six-week-old ceasefire, United Nations investigators said in a report on Thursday.

Syrian army and security services committed most of the crimes documented since March, including heavy shelling and executions, as part of military or search operations in areas known to host defectors or fighters, it said.

Armed rebels executed or tortured captured soldiers and pro-government supporters and abducted civilians in an apparent bid to secure prison exchanges or ransoms, it said.

Syria Violence: Syrian Security Forces, Opposition Fighters Continue To Commit Gross Human Rights Violations, UN Reports

 

[Trajan]

the Syrian revolt are catching hell, an arty barrage blew away over 90 , happened in the last 24 hours..........the UN has 'condemned' Assad etc...big fucking whoop.

 

[Trajan]

what a tool. he doesn't even have the stones to call out assad directly. typical.


* Updated May 28, 2012, 8:59 a.m. ET

Annan Makes Syria Plea



BEIRUT—Special envoy Kofi Annan on Monday called on "every individual with a gun" in Syria to lay down arms, saying he was horrified by a weekend massacre that killed more than 100 people, including women and small children.

Mr. Annan arrived in Damascus Monday for talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and other senior officials in the wake of the bloodshed Friday night in Houla, a collection of villages in the central province of Homs.

"I am personally shocked and horrified by the tragic incident in Houla two days ago, which took so many innocent lives, children, women and men," Mr. Annan said as he arrived in the Syrian capital.

He called on all sides of the conflict to end the bloodshed, saying "this message of peace is not only for the government, but for everyone with a gun."

more at-
Annan Makes Syria Plea - WSJ.com