Protests in Syria - Discussion Thread

[Laworkerbee]

I wonder how many 23mm rounds tore down that avenue.

[EITAN88]

US officials say Syria's military remains loyal despite recent high-profile defections, while the opposition remains fragmented and unable to attack as a unified force, indicating a long, protracted conflict to come.

The Syrian regime is maintaining troop loyalty by keeping paychecks coming even as food and fuel run out for the rest of the country, according to US intelligence officials who briefed reporters on the Syrian conflict Tuesday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss classified intelligence.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...247858,00.html

[gresh]

Seriously? The rebels can shell a city and not inflict damage on civilians but when the government does it it does so entirely to kill innocent human beings. Artillery doesn't fucking work like that, especially when untrained people are pulling the lanyards and shouting "Allah Akbar" to assist the projectile in terminal flight.

I know how artillery works. I'm not saying there probably wouldn't be civilian casualties, but I doubt that if they started using it that would be their intended goal like My Name Again suggested. There's been a few examples of the FSA using mortars and home made rockets to attack Syrian bases. Just sayin' I wont be surprised if they capture a howitzer and use it to attack a government stronghold or some artillery unit defects and turns on their comrades. Of course collateral damage is possible.

WRAPUP 2-Erdogan tells Syria beware Turkish wrath

BEIRUT/ANKARA, June 26 (*******) - Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told Syria to beware the wrath of Turkey after Friday's shooting down of a warplane and said he had given orders to the armed forces to react to any threat approaching Turkish borders from Syria.

Erdogan's warning to Syria reflected increased tensions not only on the Mediterranean coast, where the aircraft was shot down, but on a long common land border criss-crossed by rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad. Syria said on Sunday it had killed several "terrorists" infiltrating from Turkey.


In Syria itself, Damascus suburbs were gripped by the worst fighting the capital has seen since the uprising against Assad began 16 months ago. The city had long been seen as a bastion of support for the president.


Prime Minister Erdogan, who fell out bitterly with Assad after he dismissed his advice to allow democratic reform, said Turkey was no warmonger.


"Our rational response should not be perceived as weakness, our mild manners do not mean we are a tame lamb," he said. "Everybody should know that Turkey's wrath is just as strong and devastating as its friendship is valuable."

http://www.*******.com/article/2012/...8HPCZV20120626

[gresh]

Syria: Detained medics tortured and killed amid Aleppo crackdown

The discovery of the charred and mutilated bodies of three young medical workers a week after their arrest in Aleppo city is yet further evidence of the Syrian government forces’ appalling disregard for the sanctity of the role of medical workers, Amnesty International said.All three men were students at Aleppo University – Basel Aslan and Mus’ab Barad were fourth-year medical students and Hazem Batikh was a second-year English literature student and a first-aid medic.
They were part of a team of doctors, nurses and first-aiders who have been providing life-saving medical treatment in makeshift “field hospitals” set up to treat demonstrators shot by security forces and who could not therefore go to state-run hospitals for fear of being arrested, tortured or even killed.
They had been detained by Air Force Intelligence since their arrest in the city on 17 June.
“The brutal killing of these young medics who took great personal risk to rescue and treat injured protesters is yet more evidence that Syrian government forces are prepared to commit unspeakable crimes to silence dissent,” said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International’s senior crisis response adviser who recently returned from several weeks in Syria.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/news/syri...ent-2012-06-26

[ISNJH]

There are some reports coming in that armed gunmen have stormed one of the Syrian state TV buildings and killed three people.

[AustinJ]

3 die in terrorist attack in Damascus

Three people died in a terrorist attack on the Al-Ikhbariya government television centre in Damascus earlier today, according to the Syrian news agency SANA.

The attackers burst into the centre, set off bombs in several rooms, and actually destroyed the newsroom studio. No more details have been disclosed.
Two reporters and a worker died in the attack.

[coltfan111]

https://www.amnesty.org/en/news/syri...ent-2012-06-26

Beware of his ability to aks us to do the dirty work?

I seriously hope we stay out of this one.

[Meorom]

I know how artillery works. I'm not saying there probably wouldn't be civilian casualties, but I doubt that if they started using it that would be their intended goal like My Name Again suggested. There's been a few examples of the FSA using mortars and home made rockets to attack Syrian bases. Just sayin' I wont be surprised if they capture a howitzer and use it to attack a government stronghold or some artillery unit defects and turns on their comrades. Of course collateral damage is possible.


http://www.*******.com/article/2012/...8HPCZV20120626

So if Syrian Armies use civilian houses as their host? Of course, FSA will/ or may be have already used artillery to shell them like the way Syrian Armies use artillery to shell the FSA

[gresh]

Syria in state of war, says Bashar al-Assad

Addressing his new cabinet, Mr Assad said that all efforts had to be directed towards winning the war.

Hours later, gunmen attacked pro-government Ikhbariya TV channel, killing three people, state media said.


The UN's human rights council is due to hear a report on Syria, including its findings on the Houla massacre.


A commission of inquiry has been investigating human rights violations in the conflict and its chairman, Paulo Pinheiro, was able to enter the country for the first time on Monday.


Earlier this month, the Geneva-based UN council called on the commission to find out who carried out last month's killings in Houla in which 108 people died.


'Winning this war'
"We live in a real state of war from all angles," President Assad told members of the cabinet who were sworn in on Tuesday.


"When we are in a war, all policies and all sides and all sectors need to be directed at winning this war."


He criticised countries that have been calling for him to stand down, saying that the West "takes and never gives and this has been proven at every stage".




President Assad has promised reforms but the opposition says they do not go far enough
He added: "We want good relations with all countries but we must know where our interests lie."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18598533

So if Syrian Armies use civilian houses as their host? Of course, FSA will/ or may be have already used artillery to shell them like the way Syrian Armies use artillery to shell the FSA

Civilian homes, hospitals, schools, you name it..both sides have used them as fighting positions.

[kalerab]

[themacedonian]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/wo...d.html?_r=1&hp

But the rebels denied carrying out the attack, saying a unit of the elite Syrian Republican Guard assigned to guard the station defected and attacked other government soldiers who had remained loyal.

......another non terrorist event.

[Camera]

And in Lebanon, tens of Hezbollah militants burned a TV station that broadcasted an interview of a Sunni cleric who criticized Nasrallah's support to Assad.

[kalerab]

It was Amal militia. Probably.

[ISNJH]

This morning I saw several alerts about the FSA taking an airbase, is there any indication this really happened? if its true they took an airbase then I could see one option if they can hold and keep the airbase it could present a place to land more supplies also access to airplanes or helicopters if the FSA has enough pilots could present a chance to start providing fire support from the air for the FSA. If the FSA cant hold the air base and have to leave then they could destroy the aircraft that they cant take and thus reduce the number of equipment that Assad will have.

[gresh]

This morning I saw several alerts about the FSA taking an airbase, is there any indication this really happened? if its true they took an airbase then I could see one option if they can hold and keep the airbase it could present a place to land more supplies also access to airplanes or helicopters if the FSA has enough pilots could present a chance to start providing fire support from the air for the FSA. If the FSA cant hold the air base and have to leave then they could destroy the aircraft that they cant take and thus reduce the number of equipment that Assad will have.

What's the source?