Protests in Syria - Discussion Thread

[themacedonian]

Well Arab Council seams not any better than Assad claimed to be after all ....

A mob rule. In this climate it would not take much time between accusation and hanging. Similar event happened in Benghazi last year when members of security were hanged as I remember it.
This shows what will happen when the mob takes over in Syria.

[themacedonian]

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.
Though I suppose the supplies rather come from Quatar than the US.

Syria's Al-Watan newspaper yesterday gave a rundown of dozens of deaths on the two sides in clashes in Homs and elsewhere in central Syria over the past two days.
Thirty-seven rebels were killed in the Adawiyeh, Bab Dreib and Dawar Fakhura districts of Homs, it said.
It said rebel fighters armed with anti-tank missiles, thermobaric grenades, mortars and machine guns destroyed two BMB armoured cars and set ablaze a third, "killing all its crew".

Four soldiers were killed in an attack on a checkpoint in Bab Dreib, Al-Watan said, while 15 rebels and two members of the security forces died in clashes in Rastan, another town in central Syria.

I expect the quality of the weapons available to the "protesters" to improve soon.

[Crichton]

Exactly what i was thinking ,all the operations will produce short coming anarchy for like 2 3 years and a really long way towards stability and prosperity

[kalerab]

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.
Though I suppose the supplies rather come from Quatar than the US.

Every journalist who met them says the same thing - they have next to no equipment but what they have taken with them when they defected plus some AKs and RPGs bought from arms dealers and smuggled from Iraq, Turkey and Lebanon. If Qatar, US or Israel would start supplying them first thing they would´ve supply them with would be ATMs.

Syria's Al-Watan newspaper yesterday gave a rundown of dozens of deaths on the two sides in clashes in Homs and elsewhere in central Syria over the past two days.

Al-Watan is regime newspaper, I really doubt that they found thermobaric grenades. As for Rastan, it was overrun by rebels few days ago.

[JCR]

would be ATMs.

Do they lack cash?
You mean ATGMs.
Well considering the number of tanks I've seen knocked out maybe they have some.
Keep in mind ATGMs are not really Allahu Akbar suitable, you need to train on them and every practice shot costs serious money.

[kalerab]

ATM, ATGM, ATGW, doesnt matter.
If Libyan rebels, which never held weapons in their hands before February 2011, could learn how to operate MILANs how hard can it be for ex-soldiers?
As for those tanks I personally saw videos of 3 tanks knocked down, rest were APCs which were taken down by RPGs and IEDs. Anyway given how much armor has Syrian army still active replacing even dozen T-72s is no problem for them.

[JCR]

It isn't hard per se (at least according to guys I know who were MILAN gunners).
Problem only is you need 2-3 shots to become proficient at ATGM shooting.
Syrian reservists who have experience with modern russian ATGMs could do it more easily as the principle is the same.

[JGXL836]

Keep in mind ATGMs are not really Allahu Akbar suitable, you need to train on them and every practice shot costs serious money.

I LOLed!

Though, Hezzie ATGM teams were very well trained. Actually, they had more practice on their ATGMs then our own ATGM teams.

[Camera]

In the last 2 decades Syria invested less in armor than in the build up of AT infantry. There are many Syrian mandatory and reserve soldiers that were trained to use AT weapons. Defectors could have deserted with RPGs and some ATGMs.

[themacedonian]

Every journalist who met them says the same thing - they have next to no equipment but what they have taken with them when they defected plus some AKs and RPGs bought from arms dealers and smuggled from Iraq, Turkey and Lebanon. If Qatar, US or Israel would start supplying them first thing they would´ve supply them with would be ATMs.

Al-Watan is regime newspaper, I really doubt that they found thermobaric grenades. As for Rastan, it was overrun by rebels few days ago.

I got it here. I would not know which syrian paper is pro or anti government.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/bre...-1226260139606

[themacedonian]

Every journalist who met them says the same thing - they have next to no equipment but what they have taken with them when they defected plus some AKs and RPGs bought from arms dealers and smuggled from Iraq, Turkey and Lebanon. If Qatar, US or Israel would start supplying them first thing they would´ve supply them with would be ATMs.

Al Jazeera is showing "protesters" with a captured tank. Could be a defection but not likely.
I just saw the other thread and see that have seen the video. Quite impressive for besieged fighters. I do not think they are lightly armed.

[kalerab]

Half of Syria no longer under Assad's control, opposition says

Opposition sources also report regime taking away sole responsibility for dealing with uprising from Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Daoud Rajha.

Syrian opposition leader Colonel Riyad al-As'ad, commander of the Syria Free Army, said on Wednesday that around half of the country is no longer under the control of President Bashar Assad’s forces.

The Syria Free Army - which has managed to recruit over 25,000 army deserters and citizens so far - has apparently refrained from taking control of more territory out of fear that the regime would respond with more force and yield a significant increasing in the number of casualties.

This is also apparently the reason that the opposition group retreated from the suburbs of the capital Damascus on Sunday, following an attack by regime forces, in which opposition forces were shelled, and fired on by tanks.

Opposition sources have also reported that President Assad has decided to split the responsibilities of his top military officers, taking away from Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Daoud Rajha the sole mandate for dealing with the crisis that has gripped Syria since March last year.

The mandate has passed partly to former Defense Minister Hassan Turkmani, who will be responsible for military operations, while General Jamil al-Hassan will be tasked with repression and arrest of opposition members organizing demonstration in the streets. Two of President Assad’s nephews, Rami Makhlouf and Hani Makhlouf, will be charged with logistics.

Assad’s brother and brother-in-law will be tasked with imposing a blockade on families of the Syrian political establishment, in order to prevent them from defecting.

If these reports are correct, they point to a very heavy pressure on Assad, and indicate fear bordering on hysteria as to what is happening in Syria.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-e...-says-1.410406

[kalerab]

Syria: over 200 dead after 'massacre' in Homs

Observers claim deaths came after shelling by security forces on eve of UN vote on removal of Bashar al-Assad
More than 200 people were reported to have been killed yesterday in the Syrian city of Homs as security forces continued their efforts to take back opposition-held areas on the eve of a vote by the UN security council on a much-disputed resolution on the country.

Hundreds more were killed in shelling of the city, according to the the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which cited witnesses.

Rami Abdulrahman, the head of the campaign group, said that women and children were among 217 people killed, many of them in the Khalidya district of the city.

"Syrian forces are shelling the district with mortars from several locations, some buildings are on fire. There are also buildings which got destroyed," Abdulrahman told *******.

The UN Security Council is expected to meet on Saturday morning to vote on a European-Arab draft resolution endorsing an Arab League plan calling for Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, to give up power, council members announced.

Britain's UN mission announced on Twitter that the meeting would take place at 9am, although diplomats told ******* that it was unclear if Russia, which has opposed significant council action on Syria since an uprising started there 11 months ago, would vote in favour of, abstain from or veto the resolution.

Russia, which threatened on Thursday to veto the text, had promised to submit suggestions for revising the draft on Friday. Diplomats said the drafters had received no proposals from the Russian delegation so far.

The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, spoke on Friday by telephone with the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, in an effort to overcome Russian opposition to any statement that explicitly calls for regime change or military intervention in Syria.

A spokesperson for Clinton said that she and Lavrov agreed to have US and Russian diplomats continue to work on a Syria resolution and were planning to meet for more talks in the German city of Munich, where both figures are attending a security conference.

Russia's deputy foreign minister, Gennady Gatilov, also said on Friday that Moscow could not support the resolution in its current form but he expressed optimism that an agreement could be reached, according to state news agency RIA Novosti.

The latest draft includes changes made by Arab and European negotiators to meet some of Russia's concerns. It calls for a "Syrian-led political transition," does not criticise arms sales to Syria and leaves out some of the details of what the Arab plan entails, such as Assad transferring power to a deputy. But the draft still says the council "fully supports" the Arab plan, language Moscow has said it dislikes.

Israel's deputy foreign minister, Danny Ayalon, meanwhile predicted on Friday that Assad will fall from power eventually but the process could be "long and bloody".

"Assad has no real challenge unfortunately from the international community as his case is being barred from discussion in the security council because of some members of the security council, and because he continues to get material, financial and military help from the ayatollahs in Iran and Hezbollah," he said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...-homs-killings

[MUSHROOM123]

It seems that he will remain in power for a long time...

[themacedonian]

It seems that he will remain in power for a long time...

If he manages to get through another year (or even next 6 months) he will be around for some time. This year is critical for Assad.
Personally I do not think Syria will have Assad as a president by the end of the year but the current system might still exist.