Protests in Syria - Discussion Thread

[themacedonian]

Why don't you provide a link to the source of the report?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...562562558.html

[Universals]

Couple pages back I did say all these massacres tend to happen when there is a UN resolution proposed. Some here found it funny.


He said initial reports of a civilian massacre and the strong reactions that followed from the likes of U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were primarily intended to pressure Mr. Assad's ally Russia into backing a proposed U.N. Security Council resolution this week that would impose tough trade and financial sanctions on Damascus if it continues to use heavy weapons against populated areas.

"They wanted a vitamin boost to defeat the wise Russian endeavors in the Security Council," he said.
The Obama administration appeared to soften its position on the Treimseh incident Sunday, with a senior U.S. official saying, "We'll be interested in the full report from the U.N."
Even as international condemnation rose Friday over what Mrs. Clinton and others said was a massacre of civilians with a 200-person death toll, activists and a resident of the village said in interviews on Friday that the town had hosted some 250 opposition fighters, and said the death toll was at the time below 100. The resident also said opposition fighters there had been overwhelmed during what he described as street fighting with progovernment forces.
U.S. officials said their initial estimates were based on the State Department's own reporting. The information drew from Syrian sources and nongovernmental organizations tracking the violence there, these officials said.
"Initial reports of a widespread massacre of civilians were seized upon by the West to shame Russia and bring it to support a more forceful Security Council resolution," said Robert Malley, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at the International Crisis Group, a conflict-resolution think tank. "And, now, a second wave of reporting casting doubt on the earlier claims almost certainly will be seized upon by the Russians to fight back and call into question all that has been said."

So is Mrs Clinton going to revise her words??

Nice find.
Clinton reverse her words? don't hold your breath.

[gresh]

CJ Chivers has different view on that

http://cjchivers.com/post/2706358704...nitions-why-it

worth reading

Yeah, I read that on the Syrian Information Center. I tend to believe the defected pilot about helicopter's dropping bombs, although that second video Chivers sited looks like rockets. It's a crappy video so you can't see the smoke trails and it's most likely just the pilot firing all of his rockets in one large barrage.

Confessions of an Assad 'Shabiha' loyalist: how I raped and killed for £300 a month
Ruth Sherlock hears a chilling confession from a member of the pro-Assad 'Shabiha' militia, likely soon to meet his death

Sitting in the dark, fetid cave that served as his makeshift prison, Mohammed confessed with the frankness of a man who knew he had no escape from death. For the equivalent of £300 a month, plus a £100 bonus for every victim, he had become a hired killer for President Bashar al Assad, he said. What was more, he had enjoyed every minute of it.
"We love Assad because the government gave us all the power - if I wanted to take something, kill a person or rape a girl I could," he said, in a calm, quiet voice devoid of remorse.
"The government gave me 30,000 Syrian pounds per month and an extra 10,000 per person that I captured or killed. I raped one girl, and my commander raped many times. It was normal."
Mohammed - not his real name - spoke to me last week at a secret rebel detention centre in Idlib Province in northern Syria, where he had been captured a few weeks earlier during a shoot-out with units from the Free Syrian Army.
Tucked away in the hills, the limestone caves where he is now confined were once used by rebel units to hide from President Assad's forces and stash their weapons. Now, 16 months into the uprising, they have become a prison for captured pro-regime fighters.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9400570/Confessions-of-an-Assad-Shabiha-loyalist-how-I-raped-and-killed-for-300-a-month.html

@themacedonian-That link requires a subscription. The Syrian government has been caught lying at least 3 different times in this particular incident.

1-They denied using heavy weapons. They said the biggest weapon they used was an RPG-7. That is a lie. There was evidence of the use of tanks, mortars and rocket's fired from helicopter's.

2-They lied about the death toll. They said they killed 37 fighters and 2 civilians. The death toll is obviously much, much higher and there's people still missing, bodies that were executed and people burnt beyond recognition. I'm actually surprised they even copped to killing civilians, although I'm sure they'll make up some BS and call them "government supporters".

3-They claimed to have captured Turks and Libyan's and then showed on state tv a picture of a Syrian refugee to Turkey and an ID he received there with a Turkish flag on it. They claimed it was a Turkish man. The guy was likely a man who fled to Turkey and came back. Again, caught lying.

[Kilgor]

This version is as good as any other. Becuse we don't know who and how. Besides we know who would benefit from every "massacre" before UN SC vote. And it's not Assad. I refuse to belive that he is stupid so much.

Or Assad is a equally murderous arsehole as his father.

And, nice knowing you btw. Please, stay banned.

[themacedonian]

Interesting read

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,4205918.story

Syria rebels seek weapons, money on Turkish border

Some fighters make their own weapons as prices have skyrocketed. The only well-stocked militias are those affiliated with Islamist factions.

The funding advantage could put Islamist factions in a favorable position to assume power should Assad be overthrown, analysts say. One reason that Western aid has been slow to materialize is concern in Washington and elsewhere about militant elements within the armed opposition.

War, even its guerrilla incarnation across the border in Syria, is not a poor man's game.

Rocket-propelled grenades, a rebel staple, sell for about $1,200 each on the black market. Elzoor recalled a recent battle in which 13 direct RPG hits failed to stop a Russian-made T-72 tank used by the Syrian military. That's more than $15,000 wasted.

[Nyusu]

Or Assad is a equally murderous arsehole as his father.

And, nice knowing you btw. Please, stay banned.

What for did he got banned?

[Camera]

Interesting read

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,4205918.story

Syria rebels seek weapons, money on Turkish border

Some fighters make their own weapons as prices have skyrocketed. The only well-stocked militias are those affiliated with Islamist factions.

The funding advantage could put Islamist factions in a favorable position to assume power should Assad be overthrown, analysts say. One reason that Western aid has been slow to materialize is concern in Washington and elsewhere about militant elements within the armed opposition.

War, even its guerrilla incarnation across the border in Syria, is not a poor man's game.

Rocket-propelled grenades, a rebel staple, sell for about $1,200 each on the black market. Elzoor recalled a recent battle in which 13 direct RPG hits failed to stop a Russian-made T-72 tank used by the Syrian military. That's more than $15,000 wasted.

Erdogan and the Arab donators favor the Islamists.
That's why we should provide weapons to the secular factions to avoid an Islamic dominance of Syria in the aftermath of Assad.

[EITAN88]

Syrian troops and rebels clashed inside the tightly controlled capital Monday for the second day in what activists called some of the worst fighting since the country's crisis began 16 months ago.

The clashes briefly closed the highway linking the capital with Damascus International Airport to the city's south – an unprecedented development, said Mustafa Osso, an activist based in Syria.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...256218,00.html

[IconOfEvi]

Erdogan and the Arab donators favor the Islamists.
That's why we should provide weapons to the secular factions to avoid an Islamic dominance of Syria in the aftermath of Assad.

I know, right? Its like people are lumping the opposition together into one huge group. This is like the Muja from Afghanistan again...we can't delegate the responsibility of disbursing the weapons and funds to others.

[JCR]

What for did he got banned?

He hates Freedom.

[yves]

Clashes already happened in Damascus suburbs in January or February this year but maybe this time the rebels have more ammo or anti-tank weapons to hold some grounds more than one week.

[gresh]

Clashes already happened in Damascus suburubs in January or February this year but maybe this time the rebels have more ammo or anti-tank weapons to hold some grounds more than one week.

There's been protests in Damascus so close to the Presidential Palace that if Bashar walks outside, he can probably hear them. The FSA's also been ambushing security forces vehicles with IED's and things like that in those areas. They can't hold ground very well, but they definitely have smuggled in more weapons.

[Surenas]

Syria: Insurgent Mortar Attack Goes Wrong (08/07/12)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRdBq...layer_embedded

[IconOfEvi]

There's been protests in Damascus so close to the Presidential Palace that if Bashar walks outside, he can probably hear them. The FSA's also been ambushing security forces vehicles with IED's and things like that in those areas. They can't hold ground very well, but they definitely have smuggled in more weapons.

Good, I hope that little bastard quakes with at least a fraction of the terror he and his father have meted out over their lives.

I hope he goes as violently as Quadaffi did. Hanging like his fellow Baathist Saddam is just letting him off the hook.

[geolocator]

Clashes already happened in Damascus suburbs in January or February this year but maybe this time the rebels have more ammo or anti-tank weapons to hold some grounds more than one week.

Do you know what is strange? I didn't find anything about serious clashes in suburbs in Syrian pro-government sources. They give a lot of reports about clashes in details, but nothing about Damascus suburbs there.