Syrian Freedom

Mobiles, Internet cut in #Syria’s Aleppo: NGO

02/08/12

BEIRUT - (AFP) - Mobile phone and Internet services have been cut in Aleppo, Syria’s second city, where a crucial battle is taking place between rebels and the army, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday.

“Mobile telecommunications services and Internet have been cut off in the city of Aleppo since last night,” it said. An activist, who asked not to be identified, confirmed that the Internet, landlines and some mobile services were down in the northern city, Syria’s commercial hub.

“MTN is down while Syriatel is working. But Syriatel is working only for calls, not the 3G Internet service,” he said, referring to the only mobile providers in the country. “The landlines are also down.”

A Syrian security source in Damascus told AFP that such cuts are “generally the precursor to a major military offensive.”

The rebel Free Syrian Army has said it controls “50 percent” of Aleppo, where the army is bombarding rebel-held areas but has yet to advance on the ground.

The conflict in Aleppo has raged since July 20, with both sides sending in reinforcements for what the security source has predicted will be a protracted battle.

Syrian forces repeat Homs assault in border town #Syria

Posted : Thu 22 March 2012 - 12:04pm

Last Updated : Thu 22 March 2012 - 12:07pm

Human Rights Watch accused Syrian security forces of committing “serious abuses in their military campaign on al-Qusayr”, in a report published on Thursday. The city of Al-Qusayr, of approximately 40,000 inhabitants, is located in the Homs governorate near the Lebanese border.

Human Rights Watch interviewed 18 witnesses from al-Qusayr, including an international journalist who covered the conflict from al-Qusayr between March 8 and March 15. They depicted scenes of chaos with snipers directly shooting at residents, attacks on fleeing families and indiscriminate shelling of the entire area.

The organisation also underlines the disastrous humanitarian conditions in the city with food and water shortages, as well as communications blackouts, and “virtually non-existent medical assistance.”

Similar accounts were previously given by witnesses in Idlib and Homs, “suggesting a coordinated policy of abuse”, says Human Rights Watch.

“Following their bloody siege of Homs, the Assad forces are applying their same brutal methods in al-Qusayr,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Having seen the devastation inflicted on Homs, the Russian government should stop arms sales to the Syrian government or risk becoming further implicated in human rights violations.”

Witnesses say abuses have been going on for several months, besides the shelling which started between one and three months ago.

Photo: Tank in Al-Qusayr

Top U.S. admiral: Arming the Syrian rebels would help oust Assad #Syria

Posted By Josh Rogin - Friday, March 2, 2012 - 1:55 PM

If the international community gave the Syrian rebels arms, communications equipment, and intelligence, that would help speed President Bashar al-Assad’sremoval from power, the top U.S. military official in Europe said Thursday.

Navy Admiral James Stavridis, Commander of U.S. European Command and Supreme Allied Commander-Europe, told the Senate Armed Services that NATO is not doing any “detailed planning” for ways to aid the Syrian opposition or protect Syrian civilians. But under intense questioning from the committee’s ranking Republican, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Stavridis admitted he believed that giving material aid to the rebels would help them get better organized and push forward the process of getting the Assad to step down.

“Yesterday the secretary-general of NATO, Mr. Rasmussen, told The Cable, quote, ‘We haven’t had any discussions about a NATO role in Syria and I don’t envision such a role for the alliance,’” McCain said, referring directly to our Feb. 29 exclusive interview with Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

“Is it true that NATO is doing no contingency planning of any kind with respect to Syria, including for the provision of humanitarian and medical assistance?” McCain asked Stavridis.

“We’re not doing any detailed contingency planning at this point, senator, and there’s a reason for that. Within the NATO command structure, there has to be an authorization from the North Atlantic Council before we can conduct detailed planning,” Stavridis said. The North Atlantic Council is the body charged with making NATO policy decisions.

After getting Stavridis to confirm he believes the Syrian crisis is now an armed conflict between government and opposition forces, McCain then asked Stavridis if the provision of arms, communication equipment, and tactical intelligence would help the Syrian opposition to better organize itself and push Assad from power.

“I would think it would. Yes, sir,” Stavridis replied.

McCain contrasted NATO’s reluctance to intervene in Syria with previous NATO missions to halt massacres in Bosnia and Kosovo. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) seconded that comparison at the hearing.

“This does remind me of experiences we had in Bosnia and Kosovo in the ’90s,” Lieberman said. “It actually took quite a while for us to build the political will, both here and in Europe, to get involved there. And while we were doing that, a lot of people got killed, and the same is happening in Syria now. I hope it doesn’t take us so long.”

Just down the hall from the SASC hearing, two top State Department officials were giving an entirely different take on the efficacy of arming the rebels. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman and Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the administration just doesn’t think that arming the Syria rebels is a good idea.

“We’ve been very hesitant about pouring fuel onto a conflagration that Assad himself has set,” Feltman testified Thursday. “So we’re very cautious about this whole area of questioning and that’s why we have worked with this international consensus on political tracks, on economic tracks, on diplomatic tracks, in order to get to the tipping point we were talking about earlier.”

As Ben Smith in Politico reported Thursday, the Syria issue has divided Congress on traditional party and ideological lines — lines that were muddled during the debate over intervention in Libya because of internal Republican disagreement. Most GOP senators and leading congressmen, along with all the GOP presidential candidates, are urging the Obama administration to begin directly aiding the Syrian rebels now.

Leading congressional Democrats, to the extent they have commented on the issue, have been more reluctant to get more involved in the Syria crisis. House Armed Services Committee ranking Democrat Adam Smith (D-WA) told reporters Thursday, “If there is something we can do that will make an immediate difference that is not overly risky in terms of our own lives and cost, we should try. Right now I don’t see that we have that type of support for something inside of Syria.”

“It is critical that we all proceed with extreme caution and with our eyes wide open,” SFRC Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) said at the Thursday hearing. “There are serious questions to be answered about the Free Syrian Army, but it is not too soon to think about how the international community could shape its thinking or encourage restraint.”

The debate in Congress over aiding the Syrian rebels will ramp up next week, with a March 6 SASC hearing with Central Command chief Gen. James Mattis and a March 7 SASC hearing with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey.

Sources: Arab nations arming Syrian opposition #Syria

By the CNN Wire Staff

February 24, 2012 — Updated 0305 GMT (1105 HKT)

(CNN) — The outlook for the underequipped members of the Syrian opposition appeared to brighten Thursday on the eve of a Friends of Syria meeting in Tunisia.

Diplomatic sources told CNN that a number of Arab nations are supplying arms to the Syrian opposition. The sources wouldn’t identify which countries.

In London, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton predicted the opposition will find willing sources to supply them with munitions to counter the Syrian government onslaught blamed for thousands of deaths since last March.

“There will be increasingly capable opposition forces,” she said Thursday. “They will find somewhere, somehow the means to defend themselves, as well as begin offensive measures and the pressure will build on Russia and China. World opinion is not going to stand idly by.”

Russia and China both vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have condemned the Syrian government for attacking its people.

Also Thursday, U.S. officials told CNN they are considering providing the opposition with nonlethal aid — such as secure radio communications and training.

That is a step beyond what the Obama administration was saying Tuesday, when it was still clinging to the hope that political solutions would end the bloodshed. “We don’t believe that it makes sense to contribute now to the further militarization of Syria, what we don’t want to see is the spiral of violence increase,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. “That said, if we can’t get Assad to yield to the pressure that we are all bringing to bear, we may have to consider additional measures.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has recently suggested that, beyond humanitarian aid and diplomatic solutions, “we need to think about contingencies as well.”

Both the U.S. military and intelligence community have expressed concern about providing arms to an opposition whose composition is unclear.

The 70-plus countries and international organizations gathering Friday in Tunis are expected to unveil a plan for delivering emergency aid to the Syrian people and issue a stern warning to President Bashar al-Assad. They want him to agree to an immediate cease-fire and provide access to humanitarian groups to deliver the aid or face a yet-to-be mentioned response from the world community.

A draft of the document, shared with CNN, calls on “the Syrian government to implement an immediate cease-fire and to allow free and unimpeded access by the United Nations and humanitarian agencies to carry out a full assessment of needs in Homs and other areas.”

Diplomats cautioned the draft was subject to change.

What’s more, the communiqué will recognize the opposition Syrian National Council, members of which will be at the session, as a credible representative of the Syrian people.

The United States insists it will not provide weapons to the Syrian opposition, and will leave it to others who have expressed an interest in doing so. Nobody told Washington they armed the Libyans and officials said they expect the same nod-wink in Syria.

Neither Russia, which is a Soviet-era ally and arms dealer to Syria, nor China is participating.

Preparations for the Tunis meeting coincided with the release Thursday of a U.N. report that identifies Syrian commanders and high-ranking officials who may be responsible for “widespread, systematic and gross human rights violations” and apparent crimes against humanity.

The violations have been conducted with the “apparent knowledge and consent” of the country’s “highest levels,” the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic says.

Thousands have died in Syria since mid-March of 2011, when the government launched a crackdown against protesters.

At least 101 deaths were reported Thursday, including 14 children and a soldier killed when he refused to open fire on people, the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said. Seventeen unidentified corpses were found in a military prison in the Zawiya Mountain area of Idlib province, the group said. Residents told the LCC they believe it’s likely most of these unidentified bodies were of soldiers who had defected.

Opposition forces reported more shelling of Homs, the 20th consecutive day of attacks on the besieged city at the center of resistance.

On Thursday, the United Nations announced the appointment of former Secretary-General Kofi Annan as joint special envoy of the United Nations and Arab League on the Syrian crisis.

Annan will be tackling an environment described by the U.N. commission report as one in which most of the citizenry is “in a state of disarray.”

“The government has manifestly failed in its responsibility to protect the population,” the report says. “Anti-government armed groups have also committed abuses, although not comparable in scale and organization with those carried out by the state.”

Meanwhile, Britain and France demanded Syrian President Bashar al-Assad cease attacks against Homs so three journalists can receive medical care, even as reports emerged Thursday of renewed shelling in the flashpoint city.

The journalists were in Homs to document attacks by al-Assad’s forces when they were wounded in shelling, which also killed American reporter Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik.

Al-Assad has denied targeting civilians, saying his forces are after “terrorists” and foreign fighters bent on destabilizing Syria.

Evidence that civilians are being killed by government forces has been documented by citizen journalists who post their work on social media websites and YouTube. The opposition reports the death toll exceeds 9,000.

CNN and other media outlets often cannot independently verify opposition or government reports because the Syrian regime has severely limited access to the country by foreign journalists.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry denied Syria was responsible for the deaths on Wednesday of two journalists “who infiltrated its territory on their own,” according to a banner on Syrian state TV.

The British Foreign Office summoned Sami Khiyami, the Syrian ambassador to the United Kingdom, and Political Director Sir Geoffrey Adams said Syria was expected to facilitate the return of the bodies of the two journalists and to provide medical treatment to British photographer Paul Conroy.

Conroy and French reporter Edith Bouvier of Le Figaro were wounded in the shelling in the Homs neighborhood of Baba Amr.

Bouvier said in a YouTube video that she needed immediate medical treatment.

“My leg is broken, the length of my femur. I need to be operated on as quickly as possible, the doctors have treated me as best as they can except they cannot perform any surgical operations, so I need as quickly as possible, during a cease-fire, a car with medical equipment or at least in good condition to take me to Lebanon to be treated as quickly as possible,” she said.

Dr. Mohammed Al-Mohammed, who has been treating the wounded journalists in Baba Amr, said Bouvier was in critical condition and Conroy had been moved to a “safe house,” which the physician said was a misnomer. “The problem is that we don’t have a safe place, anywhere secure, in Baba Amr,” Al-Mohammed told CNN Thursday in an telephone interview.

He bemoaned the lack of medical supplies. “We just have the basics,” he said. “I have to admit, all very primitive.”

CNN’s Elise Labott, Hamdi Alkhshali, Brian Walker, Arwa Damon, Hala Gorani, Tom Watkins and Joe Sterling contributed to this report.

Were Marie Colvin and journalists deliberately targeted by #Syria’s army?

Nicolas Sarkozy has said the journalists in Homs were ‘assassinated’. Here, Peter Beaumont assesses the evidence

Sunday Times correspondent Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik, who were killed in shelling in Syria on Wednesday. Photograph: AP

Following the deaths of Marie Colvin of the Sunday Times and Remi Ochlik, a freelance French photographer, there have been claims that they were deliberately targeted, including an allegation by the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, that they were “assassinated” in an attack that injured several other journalists.

What is the evidence that they were deliberately fired on?

Most of the evidence of a deliberate attack comes from French journalist Jean-Pierre Perrin, who was also in the Homs suburb of Bab Amr. He described in Liberation how the house being used as a press centre had been “evacuated” after being targeted before. According to Perrin, evidence of this was also visible in the fact that its satellite antenna had been hit many times by snipers. He also described how the journalists in the city were warned several days before the fatal incident that they would be killed if they were caught, as well as suspicions that their communications may have been intercepted and their reports read by the regime.

In a separate interview, Perrin also told the Telegraph: “A few days ago we were advised to leave the city urgently and we were told: ‘If they [the Syrian army] find you, they will kill you’. I then left the city with [Colvin] but she wanted to go back when she saw that the major offensive had not yet taken place.” He added his view that the Syrians were “fully aware” that the press centre was broadcasting direct evidence of crimes against humanity, including the murdering of women and children.

Is there any other evidence that the regime is targeting those involved in telling the story in Homs?

As well as Colvin and Remi, a prominent citizen journalist, Rami al-Sayyed, was also killed the day before. In addition, a group of activists trained by the organisation Avaaz, including several medical volunteers attempting to reach the press centre and two other citizen journalists, were found executed with their hands tied near Bab Amr after trying to reach the injured and dead reporters.

CNN staff, who had used the same media centre in an earlier visit to Homs, have indicated that they believe the Syrian military targeted their dishes on the roof with artillery fire.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has said the Assad regime appears to have a policy of intimidation against journalists to enforce a news blackout, a policy it believes has become more violent. It claims: “By controlling local news reports and expelling or denying entry to dozens of foreign journalists, the Syrian government has sought to impose a blackout on independent news coverage since the country’s uprising began almost a year ago, CPJ research shows. But along with the intensity of the conflict, the dangers to the press have risen dramatically in recent months – both for independent citizen journalists and the international journalists who have smuggled themselves into Syria at extremely high risk.”

Is there any physical evidence of a direct attack?

The journalists were in an area that was being subjected to indiscriminate fire and rocket fire, which can be extremely inaccurate. Activists, however, claim that since landlines into the city were cut, Syrian forces have been firing deliberately on locations where there was a mobile or satellite signal – a claim it is not possible to verify.

Recalling a Last Dinner With a Journalist Killed in #Syria

By NEIL MACFARQUHAR

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Marie Colvin recognized the significant story unfolding in the rebellious Syrian city of Homs. The problem was how to get at it.

She had been hoping for an official visa to visit Damascus, but with none forthcoming, she decided to sneak over the border despite strong misgivings about her safety in the besieged city suffering a constant battering from government tanks and heavy artillery.

“I cannot remember any story where the security situation was potentially this bad, except maybe Chechnya,” Ms. Colvin told me over a dinner of traditional Lebanese fare on her last night in Beirut a week before she was killed in Homs.

In her first dispatch from that besieged city, printed in the latest Sunday Times of London, she detailed the dangers in merely reaching her destination, which lies just across the Lebanese border but now exits in a grim, deadly world apart. Her welcoming party was ecstatic that a foreign reporter had braved the odds to reach them.

“So desperate were they that they bundled me into an open truck and drove at speed with the headlights on, everyone standing in the back shouting “Allahu akbar” — God is the greatest,” she wrote. “Inevitably, the Syrian army opened fire.”

She then transferred into a small car which was again fired upon, speeding into a row of abandoned buildings for cover.

But she found her story.

She described the “widows’ basement” crammed with women cowering in the only shelter they could find in a city where there is only sugar and water to feed a newborn baby.

“Among the 300 huddling in this wood factory cellar in the besieged district of Baba Amr is 20-year-old Noor, who lost her husband and her home to the shells and rockets,” Ms Colvin wrote, etching in stark detail how the woman’s husband and brother died when they went out into the streets to forage for food.

“It is a city of the cold and hungry, echoing to exploding shells and bursts of gunfire,” she wrote, her overall description evoking some of the worst sieges of World War II. “There are no telephones and the electricity has been cut off.”

“Few homes have diesel for the tin stoves they rely on for heat in the coldest winter that anyone can remember,” the story said. “Freezing rain fills potholes and snow drifts in through windows empty of glass. No shops are open, so families are sharing what they have with relatives and neighbors. Many of the dead and injured are those who risked foraging for food.

“Fearing the snipers’ merciless eyes, families resorted last week to throwing bread across rooftops, or breaking through communal walls to pass unseen.”

Escape was virtually impossible.

“The Syrians have dug a huge trench around most of the district, and let virtually nobody in or out,” Ms. Colvin wrote.

She herself left Lebanon for Syria on Feb. 14.

On her final night in Beirut, she had been waiting around for a telephone call from the smugglers telling her where and when they would meet her and her Irish photographer, Paul Conroy.

At first, the rendezvous with the smugglers had been set for Monday night, Feb. 13, outside the great mosque in the main square in Beirut, and then switched to later at her hotel. Then silence.

When I called her around 9:30, she said she was sitting in her hotel room in black winter long johns borrowed from a male colleague — joking about how the y-front would not do her much good.

“If I take off the long johns and go out to dinner with you, they will definitely call,” she told me. Sure enough, as soon as she changed clothes, the smugglers taking her across the border called to postpone the trip until the next morning.

Over dinner, Ms. Colvin reminisced about the time when we had both been stuck in the Intercontinental Hotel in Amman, Jordan, under similar circumstances in September 1996, waiting for official visas to get into Iraq. While waiting, Ms. Colvin had interviewed some Iraqi refugees who went into gory detail about how the sons of President Saddam Hussein had killed their two brothers-in-law when the two men unexpectedly returned to Baghdad after seeking asylum in Jordan.

When official visas for the press corps came through to Baghdad several days later, Ms. Colvin was one of the few reporters denied one. “I remember people griping that the story was much too bloody, but it turned out that was barely the half of it,” Ms. Colvin said over dinner in Beirut.

Ms. Colvin was no stranger to risk, wearing a distinctive black eye-patch since she lost an eye while crossing between enemy lines in Sri Lanka in 2001.

Her photographer, Mr. Conroy, showed up late for the dinner. They talked briefly about their plans and about the coming danger. They recalled living under shellfire for some six weeks last year in the besieged city Libyan city of Misurata. Mr. Conroy had just received a Facebook message from one of the Libyan doctors who had helped them find a place to shelter in the hospital — the doctor grousing that it had taken him forever to work through all the Irish Paul Conroys on Facebook before finding the right one.

But Ms. Colvin told me that she had an new appointment with the smugglers in the morning, and this time she had a telephone number to call, giving her the sense that the trip to Homs on Feb. 14 would happen.

“Before I was apprehensive, but now I’m restless,” she said, as we walked up the stairs back into the hotel for the night. “I just want to get in there and get it over with and get out.”

#Syria’s Cyber War

The Internet is the first medium in history that supports groups and conversations at the same time. While the telephone gave us a one-to-one platform and televisions, magazines, radios, and books gave us the one-to-many platform, the Internet gave us the many-to-many platform. As a tool of communication and sharing, the Internet has proven to be an extraordinarily powerful force that is very difficult to control.

Increasingly, nation-states and corporations have tried to rein it in, to harness its potential within security and legal frameworks that exist outside the Net. But this has proven unattainable even for the most powerful organizations on the planet, precisely because the Internet is more than just a technology: it is a culture.

The Internet is characterized by two key features. One is the ability to communicate freely, and the second is to link up with the rest of the world. As recently as 1996, the first reliable worldwide survey of Internet-use counted about sixteen million users. Today, there are over five hundred million. Now in terms of the total population of the planet, we still have less than seven percent of the world connected to the Internet. Even though Internet use is growing fast, two-thirds of the planet will still be outside cyberspace by the end of this decade. That said, the speed of diffusion has been extraordinary. The Internet can combine every single medium once transformed into digital form. The Internet, therefore, is the single most important medium that can have the biggest impact on global society once a bigger percentage of the world population has access to it.

People used social media extensively during the 2011 Arab uprisings, yet it was not a one-way advantage. Activists succeeded in fostering a global culture of online activism and made the world realize the power of the Internet. Bloggers and activists have become national heroes. They have been the main engine for organizing protests, lobbying on behalf of prisoners, and reporting news to the outside world in countries where journalists are banned. The revolts have relied on two main weapons: the relentless determination of protesters and social media outlets. If we examine trends in social media, we can see that Syria has had an unprecedented share since March 2011.

The Syrian state has had a virtual monopoly over the media since the Baathist military coup of 1963. But satellite television stations and the emergence of Al-Jazeera and successive pan-Arab news channels broke the regime’s monopoly. The Internet has also emerged as an unchallenged source of news. The uprising in Syria has been progressing hand-in-hand with social media. The Syrian regime has also used the Internet, coupled with live bullets on the streets, to crack down on activists. Syrians used several tools to access social media sites such as Facebook and Youtube, which were blocked inside the country. These tools, however, prevented the tracking down of activists, so the regime eventually responded by unblocking both sites Facebook and Youtube. Soon after doing so, official state agencies started launching Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks by forging a fake Facebook page to steal activists’ passwords. The security forces have also used torture against captured opponents to obtain the passwords to their Facebook and email accounts. The Assad regime thus supported a network of hackers to establish the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA), which has been launching attacks against Syrian opponents and other targets, including the Al-Jazeera TV website, among others.

A new global race has emerged to obtain electronic surveillance arms. Annual revenues spent on electronic arms in 2011 were between three billion and five billion dollars, and they are rising drastically. The Syrian government built a surveillance system last year to monitor e-mails and Internet use. The surveillance equipment for this system was made by Hewlett Packard Co. and NetApp Inc., both US-based companies. The equipment, worth more than 7.2 million dollars, was sold to Syria through an Italy-based company called Area SpA. Germany’s Utimaco Safeware AG (USA) and Paris-based Qosmos SA also supplied technology for the project. European Union sanctions against Syria did not bar such sales until they adopted further legislation in December 2011 banning export of surveillance technology to Assad’s regime. Furthermore, Iran helped the Syrian regime by training state-employed technicians on cyber surveillance. The system includes probes in the traffic of mobile phone companies and Internet service providers (ISPs), capturing both domestic and international traffic. It also allows agents to archive communications for future searches or mapping of peoples’ contacts.

Each major security branch in Syria operates a 24/7 information room where young information technology (IT) students serve. These students either volunteer to become security officers, or are allocated there to complete an eighteen-month obligatory army service. As the state security apparatus jails new opponents, confiscates their computers, and tortures them to give up information from their online accounts, the IT students’ task is to scan these accounts and recover deleted information from confiscated personal computers. The scan processes are usually random and lengthy. Many IT students take a few weeks to read the details of one email account, yet students who serve in IT rooms have disparate levels of experience.

The Syrian security communications branch, codenamed “Branch 225,” is the central decision maker in relation to communications security in Syria. Branch 225 not only has direct contact with mobile phone operating companies, ISPs, and other communications companies, but also with electricity and water companies. Branch 225 is also linked to the Telecommunications Establishment (STE), which is the main communications company in Syria and controls all ISPs and landlines in the country. STE has a Central Operations Room in the Muhajireen neighborhood of Damascus directly linked to Branch 225. Since the Syrian revolt started, Branch 225 blacked out areas that government forces invaded to cover up the operations against civilians and to cut off any contact with the outside world. This branch controls the air-conditioned room at a telecom exchange building in Muhajireen, where the Area SpA surveillance system was installed. Although the Syrian government denied any links to the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA), undercover interviews with members of the SEA revealed that the Syrian government has funded SEA members and hired hackers for different operations against opponents.

Bashar falls back on father’s brutal methods #Syria

By Jeremy Bowen BBC News, Damascus

The authorities organise regular rallies in support of President Bashar al-Assad

Someone has pinned a poster up at the foreign passports window at the Syrian border post with Lebanon. It shows a dove of peace, surrounded by guns, each labelled with the name of a foreign news broadcaster - including the BBC.

The dove is surrounded, and under fire. But the bullets are bouncing off its feathers, which are the colour of the Syrian flag - white, red, green and black.

As usual, I have had nothing but courtesy since I arrived in Syria, even though the official line here, set by President Bashar al-Assad, is that its troubles are caused by a foreign conspiracy aided and abetted by the international media.

The other day the BBC went on a government trip to Deraa, the town where the uprising started in March last year.

We managed to leave our escort of secret policemen to have a quick talk with a group of defiant young men.

They said they lived in a street of martyrs, where 18 had been killed in the last 10 months. As we left them they were chanting “Bashar, we want to hang you”.

‘Under strain’

About half an hour later, back with the minders from the Ministry of Information, a rumour started circulating that the BBC had an undercover team in Deraa, as well as us, because they had been seen meeting protesters.

It was nonsense of course, but the first assumption was that it was true - yet more proof of the conspiracy.

When the bus got back to Damascus I went to the ministry.

Some building work was going on in the entrance hall, which is dominated by a gigantic bust of Bashar’s father Hafez, who was the first Assad president.

Hafez al-Assad was ruthless. He dealt with attempted revolts by crushing them, if necessary sending in the tanks.

He ended more than 20 years of coups after he seized power in 1970 and by the time he died in 2000, no-one could challenge his wish to pass the presidency on to his son.

The bust of Hafez al-Assad at the ministry is covered in dust. Somehow I imagine its prudent employees would have kept it shiny in his day.

The system he built is now under colossal strain.

Syria is in its worst crisis since independence in 1946. In his time of trouble Bashar has fallen back on his father’s methods, but they don’t work in quite the same way in the modern world.

‘Hypocrisy’

Syrian President Hafez Assad gestures upon his arrival at the Arabian Institute in Paris in this Friday, July 17, 1998, file photo

The late President Hafez al-Assad was accustomed to using force to crush any opposition to his rule

When the first President Assad eliminated a revolt led by the Muslim Brotherhood in Hama in 1982 by sending in the army and killing at least 10,000 people, no-one was putting videos on YouTube as it happened.

The deed was done by the time the details were known.

The wiring of the world for instant communication has made it more transparent.

Authoritarian leaders in the 21st century can still get away with a lot. But only if they have the right friends - and at the moment Bashar al-Assad does not.

I had dinner the other night with a senior official I’ve known for a few years.

He is a charming, educated man, who argues that President Assad is not being given the chance by the world’s big powers to reform the regime.

He said the West was applying its usual double standards to what was happening here. We met on the day that David Cameron called President Assad a “wretched tyrant”.

‘Decade of chances’

Syria deaths

More than 5,000 civilians killed since March 2011, says the UN

More than 400 killed since start of Arab League mission on 26 December 2011

UN denied access to Syria

Information gathered from NGOs, sources in Syria and Syrians who have fled

Vast majority of casualties were unarmed, but the figure may include armed defectors

Tally does not include serving members of the security forces

Source: UN’s OHCHR

Hypocrisy, said my contact. Why doesn’t Britain speak out in the same way when civilians are killed in Bahrain? The reason, he said, was that it didn’t want to offend its Saudi allies and their friends in Bahrain’s ruling family.

The West, he said, should realise that only President Assad can save Syria from sectarian civil war.

But there are plenty of people here in Syria who believe that the president had a decade of chances to reform, and he chose not to take them.

They think that in Zabadani, a small town half an hour’s drive from the presidential palace in Damascus.

Armed rebels there have forced a ceasefire on the regime, and for now at least the protesters control the town.

When I stood with them on a bitterly cold evening in the town’s main square as they celebrated, I could hardly believe what I was seeing, so close to Damascus.

President Assad’s forces are still strong, but it might already be too late for him to discard his father’s rule book. It isn’t working any more.

How U.S. can help stop bloodshed in #Syria

By Ammar Abdulhamid and Ken Ballen, Special to CNN

January 18, 2012 — Updated 1350 GMT (2150 HKT)

Anti-government Syrians take to the streets, waving old national flags, in the village of Kansafra in province of Idlib last month.

Editor’s note: Ammar Abdulhamid is a Syrian activist, author of the daily blog Syrian Revolution Digest and a fellow at Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Ken Ballen, author of the book “Terrorists in Love” (Free Press, 2011), is president of Terror Free Tomorrow, a nonprofit institute that researches attitudes toward extremism, including in Syria.

(CNN) — After more than six months of silence, Syria’s leader, Bashar al-Assad, spoke last week for only the fourth time since the beginning of the country’s widespread uprising in March. His words show that he is as delusional now as when the protests began.

By continuing to blame the revolution on a foreign conspiracy, dismissing hundreds of thousands of his fellow citizens as “bandits, Zionists and al Qaeda,” Assad is taking a page out of the handbook of Libya’s late dictator, Moammar Gadhafi, on political survival. Assad will fight to the end simply because he cannot even conceive of his end.

“Victory is nigh,” Assad assured his dwindling supporters. But the current standstill after 10 months of fighting against unarmed protesters, and the deaths of more than 5,000 people, makes this promise hollow.

Indeed, Assad’s recent call on loyalists to continue to form local units to support the army and the security forces in their crackdown clearly shows increasing difficulty for the regime. Without external support, the protest movement has proved impossible to defeat, even for Assad’s machine of oppression, deemed by international human rights organizations to be one of the worst in the Middle East. Assad’s best defense at this stage is to play the hackneyed hand of dictators in the region — and he is pursuing it assiduously by stoking international fears of civil mayhem in Syria.

Ammad Abdulhamid

The United States and the international community do not seem to know how to respond, other than to impose economic sanctions, followed by more economic sanctions.

The sanctions, though effective in crippling Syria’s economy, have proved useless at stopping the bloodshed. If anything, violence is escalating, its ferocity forcing the previously unarmed protesters to rally around the increasing number of Syrian Army defectors to organize an armed resistance to loyalist militias.

Ken Ballen

As for the Arab League delegation of monitors roaming the country to ensure compliance with an agreement to halt the violence against protesters, the average daily death toll has more than doubled, reaching around 50 innocent people, since the monitors arrived in late December.

There are vital steps the United States can immediately take.

Ragtag defectors from the Syrian Army, joined by civilians, have had to fight back. Yet these unorganized protesters have fought Assad’s loyalist troops and militias nearly to a standstill with only light arms, obtained locally.

Providing them with more sophisticated gear, including RPGs, night vision goggles and better communication equipment, would likely enable them to neutralize Assad’s tanks and possibly free entire towns. Implementing a no-fly zone could also prevent Assad from laying these towns, once free, to waste. A naval blockade of Syrian ports would help prevent arms shipments to the regime. These are all measures the protesters themselves have forcefully and uniformly requested.

Some might be concerned that the prospect of increased militarization will plunge Syria into civil war. Assad is leaving his opponents with little choice. Either they must settle for his version of reform, forever keeping him and his inner circle in power and above the law, or they are “terrorists” and will be struck with an “iron fist,” as he threatened last week.

If Russia persists in threatening a veto at the U.N. Security Council, the United States should call for an international conference on Syria, with the Arab League, the Islamic Conference, NATO, Japan, India, Brazil and all concerned states. This would be a viable path to legitimate multilateral intervention while circumventing the Russian veto.

Syrian opposition coalitions, such as the SNC (Syrian National Council) and the Antalya Conference for Change, and prominent independent dissidents should be also invited, so that they can endorse the outcome and legitimate any international actions against the Syrian regime.

The protesters and all Syrians who yearn for freedom are unambivalent in their call for international intervention. America faces a fundamental choice. It can stand behind democratic aspirations fully, or it can continue to rely on 19th century notions of power politics and influence.

Backing tyrants as a hedge against Islamist extremism has only fostered more extremism. Although the course of history is never smooth or predictable, supporting freedom, democracy and individual dignity will, over time, provide the most stable model for prosperity and peace.

Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter and join the conversation on Facebook.

SNN | #Syria | Rif Demashq | Duma: A midday summary and videos of events on Wednesday, the 30th of Nov. 2011

The Syrian Revolution Coordination Committee of Douma (Duma) City

Helicopters flew over Douma city looking for defected soldiers. Security and intelligence agency elements were deployed and searching passersby at Badran roundabout and in Al-Quwatli St. Denser security presence, with cars led by masked men, preparing for a raid campaign in the city. They also fired heavily at a women set-in in front of Al-Raqda mosque.
For the last 15 days, the regime has been and still is punishing the residents of the city of Douma, by cutting internet services completely, and in doing so the regime, to a large degree, hurt the productivity in the public and private sector; as they depend on the internet to do business and for communication. Cutting internet services also affects university students who heavily depend on the internet in their studies. Not to mention the importance of the internet in people’s lives in general, and their right to enjoy modern communications and technologies. How far would this backward regime go in its abusive procedures against the city’s residents? Note that, despite all of this interruption in services, the regime could not prevent the truth from reaching the Arabic and international media. The regimes crimes and tactics are exposed to the whole world. But the regime still could not understand that it is facing a people who have knowledge of modern technologies and a will that won’t deter till the backward regime is overthrown.

A morning demonstration came out, after dawn prayer, from the mosque of Al-Baghdadi, it marched the streets of Al-Quwatli and Henano till Al-Ghanam square and the Grand Mosque, chanting for Rankous, Homs, and other besieged cities, and calling for bigger demonstrations. The students of Al-Hurriya school (Formerly Basil School) came out in a demonstration. Also, female students came out in demonstrations issuing from many schools, calling from freedom and demanding the execution of the president, thanking Turkey for its sanctions on the regime, and demanding the Arab States League to provide protection for the Syrian people.

Featured Videos:

An anti-riot armored vehicle present close by Al-Hurriya School, minutes before the end of the school-day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TiVzyo11Fi4
A demonstration by female and male students from the schools of Al-Hasan Al-Basri and Douma Al-Thaniya (2nd school of Douma)
http://youtu.be/SxO6XeZ5NnQ
http://youtu.be/wrDmDylMsRg
http://youtu.be/uCVtRrtYLQs

SNN | #Syria | Daraa: Horan, i.e. Daraa province, Summary of the Day 29/Nov/2011

By Local Coordinating Committee of Horan
Media Section
==========================

============
-The southern sector battalions of Ahmed Al Khalaf and the battalion
of the martyr Abdul Rahman As-Sheikh of the Free Syrian Army carried
out successful operations against security forces stationed in the
area of AlMaseefra, resulting in the bombing of three buses, killing
32 of the security forces, and injuring about 35 members of the
security forces. The dead bodies and the injured were taken to the
hospitals of Bosra and Dar’aa Al-Watanee.
- All communication, including internet, ground lines and cellular
networks, cut off in Dar’aa
-Severe fuel crisis across Dar’aa
-Massive demonstrations in Horan (Dar’aa) demanding the execution of Bashar
Details:
=============================================
1. Dar’aa
-Dar’aa AlBalad: Mobilization of an evening mass protest in solidarity
with the bleeding cities and demanding the execution of Bashar, as
well as the fall of his regime, and chanting in praise of the Free
Syrian Army

-Dar’aa AlMa’hata: Mobilization of a mass protest on the Tuesday of
Loyalty to the Doctors, and slogans saying that the people want the
execution of Bashar, and chanting in praise of the Free Syrian Army

-Asabeel Neighborhood: Mobilization of a protest in Asabeel
Neighborhood in solidarity with the besieged cities and calling for
the execution of Bashar and the fall of his regime
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Joii-k-SjsU&feature=player_embedded

-Asa’hiree Neighborhood: Calls of “God is Great” filled the sky

-AlKashef Neighborhood: Mobilization of a mass student protest
chanting in support of the bleeding cities and for freedom and
demanding the execution of Bashar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPpXNZve0Gw&feature=player_detailpage

-Dar’aa the Sports City (Panorama): 11 buses labeled as Tourist
Transport and filled with Iraqi forces under Muqtada As-Sadr equipped
with full ammunition.

-The number of As-Sadr’s forces have reached more than 500 between
yesterday’s and today’s arrivals in Dar’aa
=============================================
2. Inkhil
-Mobilization of a mass evening protest in Wa’hida, calling for the
fall of the regime in the voice of Qashoush
-Mobilization of a mass evening protest in Inkhil demanding the
execution of Bashar and chanting praises for the victory of the Free
Syrian Army
-A protest demanding the execution of Bashar and supporting the Free Syrian Army
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcyUFoi_KkY
=============================================
3. Khirbet Ghazali:
-Mobilization of a mass protest from a high school in Khirbet Ghazali
with broad participation from both male and female students, chanting
for the victory of Homs and besieged cities , as well as demanding a
no-fly zone , the fall of the regime and the execution of Bashar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrRt_QYQHs8
=============================================
4. Jassem:
-Invasion of the Official Jassem School Break (seventh period) by army
soldiers and security forces, who arrested a number of students from
the junior level, among them the student Hassan Hussein Aljelm.
——The forces also imposed a curfew in the western neighborhood, and
fully raided the homes of the Aldenevat neighborhood.
-Heavy firing at the unarmed civilians
==============================================
5. Nawa:
-Heavy security presence from the home of Taha Al’eed to the Omari
Mosque after the dismissal of the students from the boys’ and girls’
schools, as well as the trade school. It was reported that the
security forces and soldiers maintained a heavy presence after the
operations carried out by the AlImam Annawawi Batallion of the Free
Syrian Army two days ago.
-As with every day, the students of the town of Nawa used full force
of their voices, filling their throats with chants in a mass protest,
even under the roar of bullets. As soon as the security forces saw the
free men and women joining the protest they began arresting them, and
more than ten buses were summoned by the security forces. The security
forces dispersed heavily in the town squares and main streets, and the
internet remains cut off for the fourth consecutive day.
-National Hospital surrounded by security and shabiha (regime-sponsored gangs)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg46E-cfjnk&feature=player_embedded
=============================================
6. Nimr:
-Evening protest evening in honor of the prince of detainees of the
village Hindi, Mahmood Azawkanee, and chanting for the victory of the
bleeding towns, demands to execute Bashar and the fall of his regime,
and chanting in praise of the Free Syrian Army.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwO5GH-H-BQ
-Mass student protest demanding the execution of Bashar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GitGHoxbbB4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o94yOFqyrQ4&feature=youtu.be
=============================================
7. Almaseefra
-The Free Syrian Army carried out a successful military operation in
the town of Almaseefra, targeting a security bus belonging to the
shabiha (regime sponsored gangs) and security forces, and resulting in
the elimination of all on the bus.
-Security forces entered the town of Almaseefra and they are dispersed
throughout the alleys and streets of the town in wake of the military
operation carried out by the Free Syrian Army against the security
forces.
-Heavy dispersion of security forces in coordination with gun fire in
the middle of the town
=============================================
8. Sa’hm Aljolan
-Mobilization of a mass rally on the Tuesday of Loyalty to the
Doctors, with chanting that the people want the execution of Bashar
and chanting in praise of the Free Syrian Army and the martyrs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvqbqLEnRD0&feature=youtu.be
-Youth arrested today:
1. Wahid Samir Zein El Abidine
2. Ali Mohamed Eid at Ta’ani at the Maseken (housing) checkpoint
=============================================
9. Ibta’
-A mass rally mobilized including the gathering of the rebels in front
of the Great Mosque on the Tuesday of Loyalty to the Nurses and
Doctors, asking the Arab League to complete all courses of action and
thanking the Turkish efforts, and demanding the execution of the
President, and chanting that they are in support of the besieged
cities with their lives (spirit) and blood
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWTeFae_jyM
=============================================
10. Khirbet Ghazala:
-Fuel crisis in the town
-So-called “reforms of the Syrian regime”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAXULna3m7s
-Mobilization of a mass student protest on the Tuesday of Loyalty to
the Doctors, with chants that the people demand the execution of
Bashar, and chants in praise of the Free Syrian Army
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itFiCmiexdQ
==============================================
11. Asanmeen
-Mobilization of a mass evening protest in support of the bleeding
cities, demanding the execution of Bashar and the fall of his regime,
and chanting in praise of the Free Syrian Army
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDP-Bm-MXNw&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap-f8N3EqFA
=============================================
12. ‘Atman
-Mobilization of a mass evening protest chanting for freedom and the
Free Syrian Army, and demanding the execution of Bashar and the fall
of his regime
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbYgvy7oh0Y
=============================================
13. Alyadudh
-Launch of a protest in the town of Alyadudh chanting for the besieged
cities, demanding the fall of the regime and the execution of Bashar,
and chanting in praise of the Free Syrian Army
=============================================
14. Tel Shehab
-Mobilization of a mass evening protest chanting for freedom and the
Free Syrian Army, and demanding the execution of Bashar and the fall
of his regime
=============================================
15. Al’Harak
-Mobilization of a mass evening protest in support of the bleeding
cities, demanding the execution of Bashar and the fall of his regime,
and chanting in praise of the free Syrian Army
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlFSvKKya-Q
=============================================
16. Asanmeen
-Fuel crisis in the town and “reforms of Bashar”…The crisis is well
and the country is ruined
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwLuJhnu7YE
=============================================
17. Al’haram
-Dispersion of military aircraft flying over the neighborhood and
breaking the sound barrier
=============================================
18. Aljeeza
-Mobilization of a mass evening protest in support of the bleeding
cities, demanding the execution of Bashar and the fall of his regime,
and chanting praises for the Free Syrian Army
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCjT5louzHA&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Dd32Oj8FqE&feature=player_embedded
=============================================
20. Tafs
-Mobilization of a mass evening protest chanting for freedom and the
Free Syrian Army, and demanding the execution of Bashar and the fall
of his regime
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhnW5_gmB-M&feature=channel_video_title
=============================================
21. Almlee’ha Algharbiya
-Mass protest demanding the execution of Bashar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKgAvXfWxYw&feature=youtu.be
=============================================
22. Ma’haja
-Mobilization of a mass evening protest in support of the bleeding
cities, demanding the execution of Bashar and the fall of his regime,
and chanting praises for the Free Syrian Army

SNN | #Syria | Hama: Summary of Events in Hama province on Monday, 28 Nov 2011

By the Syrian Revolution General Commission – In Occupied Hama and The Revolution in Hama Archive found at http://www.hamafree.com/index.php?name=city

Martyrs:

1. Emad Abdul-Jawad Darwish, 37 years old

2. Haitham Al-Maowas, 35 years old
Both martyrs are from Ayn Al-Taqa village located near Qalaat Al-Madiaq town. They were killed by the bullets of security and Shabiha (regime-sponsored gangs) while bringing food to their families in the morning. After killing the 2 men, the murderers hanged and disfigure the 2 bodies, as it clearly shows on Haitham’s body which was handed over to his family today, while the 2nd martyr’s body is still unreleased.

3. Muhammad Al-Sabbagh, a taxi driver from Hama city, he was killed while on Tal-Kalkh road.

- Hama city:

Around 9 PM, sounds of several explosions were heard in the city, 2 of them at the roundabout of Bab Trablus- the checkpoint-barricade of the Westside carage (Al-Karaj Al-Garbi).

A demonstration held in Bab Qebli after nighttime prayer was joined by another from Al-Taawoniya neighborhood and Al-Wadi area, the demonstration was podcasted live on Al-Jazeera. Other large demonstrations issued in the neighborhoods of Al-Hamidiya and Al-Qusour.

- Rural Hama:

For days now, security and Shabiha have not stopped their vicious campaign on rural Hama, still many demonstrations were held demanding freedom and the overthrowing of the regime.

- Sahl Al-Ghab:

The army and security forces stormed, today’s morning, the 2 towns of Hayalin and Kernaz. They fired randomly to terrorize locals. Before withdrawing they set up hidden checkpoints-barricades at the entrances of the 2 towns. Note that the internet has been cut off for few days from most of the towns and villages in Sahl Al-Ghab, so we are still unable to get any video clips of the savage crimes committed by regime forces there.

- Qalaat Al-Madiaq:

Regime forces conducted a military campaign on the town, randomly machine-gunning unarmed civilians.

- Hayalin:

The town is turned into a prison as the army and Shabiha encircle the town. Large numbers of weaponry and regime forces’ elements are spread in the agricultural lands surrounding the town. They are making trenches and pits to station military weaponry in them.

Electricity is cut off from the entire town. Checkpoints-barricades are set up at the entrances. And just as if the town is another regime’s prison; very strong illuminating floodlights are installed and directed at the residential homes which have no electricity. The internet and telephone communications are still cut off from the town since the beginning of the campaign several days ago.

- Qamhana:

Shaibha gangs in the town, led by Abu Jafar (Haitham Abdul-Razaq Al-Umar), publically and at gunpoint, abducted young men from the village and handed them over to security, the detainees names are:
Hassan Ahmed Al-Abdul-Rahman (Al-Jadah), note that his father has been detained for 50 days.
Majd Adnan Al-Abdul-Rahman (Al-Jadah)
Yasin Muhammad Al-Abdul-Rahman
Ahmed Al-Umar

Please note that Abu Jafar and his group have been less active in their gang-related activities since a month ago or so, during which he was trying to win the village people over, then around 10 days ago, he went back to being worse than before, with the support of security and given broad powers.

- Khattab:

There was dense flight- activity by military aircraft over the town.

A large demonstration was held during the funeral procession of child and martyr Dima Abdul-Satar Al-Sheikh Bakkour, the 15 years old girl was killed by security and Shabiha.
http://youtu.be/sonoe7rPS9U

- Taibat Al-Imam:

A large demonstration was held, and protesters vowed to stay on the path of the revolution till the regime falls
http://youtu.be/Jr8tXrKbzzE
http://youtu.be/1FlBOJzl_l8

- Kafr Zita:
A nighttime demonstration in solidarity with wounded Homs, on 27 Nov 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzBn3v36RSQ

- Featured Vidoes:

Security checkpoint-barricade in Al-Asi square, at the old building of the Party [Baath Party], 28 Nov 2011
http://youtu.be/U7HpSkg-O_4

A video leaked from State Security Branch in Hama city, showing security elements videotaping a play to fabricate a story about armed elements, the video is taken in the branch and the security element who video-taped the clip is known to be a mean prison guard who greatly mistreat detainees, AlDonia tv channel was recording this play as if the weapons were with protesters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwLdBlFXYvE

A video showing fully armed Shabiha at the mail office which is turned into a military barrack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMVYh7Ggp-g

Military elements present in Al-Asi square and along with Shabiha they are occupying the Cultural Center
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cckRYwgRWeA

A student demonstration in Al-Karama neighborhood in Hama city, 26 Nov 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X7X-eB46qo

A demonstration in Bab Qebli neighborhood in Hama city
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WfpIIeVyzY

A nighttime demonstration in Al-Qusour neighborhood in Hama city, demanding protection for civilians
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm96wagUdoA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7XSr357wI0

A nighttime demonstration in Al-Aliliyat neighborhood in Hama city, cursing the soul of Hafez [late president and father of current president] and demanding protection for civilians
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTwLvk3G0AA—

The Shabiha bus which was targeted by the Free Syrian Army, 19 Nov 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flpcTccLc9g

SNN | #Syria | Daraa: Horan, i.e. Daraa province, Summary of the Day 28 Nov 2011

By Local Coordinating Committee of Horan
Media Section
-Cutting-off the internet, telecommunications (both ground and mobile networks) in some areas of Horan
-Severe fuel crisis across Horan
-Massive demonstrations in Horan demanding the execution of Bashar

Details
==========================

===================
1. Dar’aa
-Dar’aa Al Mahata: Mobilization of mass evening protests in support of the affected cities and demanding the execution of Bashar and the fall of his regime and praise for the martyrs and the bleeding cities.
-Dar’aa Al Balad: Mobilization of mass evening protests in support of the affected cities and demanding the execution of Bashar and the fall of his regime and praise for the martyrs and the bleeding cities.
-Faculty of Economics: Mobilization of a mass protest calling for the relief of the besieged cities and for the execution of Bashar and the fall of his regime:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmVOAEvcQbY
-Dar’aa al Mahata: heavy fire by the security and Shabiha (regime sponsored gangs) to intimidate citizens
‘Hayy Al Qusoor: Mobilization of a protest after the evening prayer (Isha) chanting, Oh God, we have no one but you, Oh God!
Industrial/Technical Institute: Protest demanding the execution of Bashar and chants in support of the Free Syrian Army and the martyrs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz1RI5s_YgE&feature=youtu.be
=============================================
2. Al-Sheikh Miskeen:
-Fierce campaign of raids and arrests by the security forces and Shabiha (regime-sponsored gangs)
-Presence of armored vehicles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkoidTFEJmg
=============================================
3. Nimr:
-Mobilization of a mass rally denouncing the laughable antics of Walid Moallem and chanting praises for Homs and the suburbs of Damascus, and calling for the execution of Bashar
-Detention of Eyad Mahmoud An-Nasser at the checkpoint of AlSheikh Miskeen two days ago, who is the brother of Mu’ayed who was arrested at the same checkpoint a week ago.
=============================================
4. Khirbet Ghazala:
-Student demonstration demanding the execution of Bashar and his regime and chanting in praise of the martyrs and the bleeding (besieged) cities of bleeding and the Free Syrian Army
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJf6Bdcp6rg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAlH9ilg7Uc
==============================================
5. Nawa:
-Firing live bullets by the security forces to disperse a student demonstration which emerged from the Baneen School, and students responded by throwing stones at the security forces and standing in front of the security forces with their bare chests. There were no reported injuries.
-Wide campaign of arbitrary arrests in the city, including the elderly with a large number of youth from different neighborhoods.
-Detainees of the city of Nawa today:
1. Abu Ala Debo
2. Three brothers from the family of Matar
3. Muhammad Fishtakee ibn Abu Anas
4. Soomer Sharaf
5. Attorney Sameer Sharaf
6. Yahya Ma’tooq Jahamanee
7. Nader Jahamanee
8. Ayham Abdullah Jahamanee
9. Muhammad An-Natoor
10. Ashraf Tayasnah Halaq
11. Turkee AlQaseem
12. Muhammad Kheir Jahamanee
=============================================
6. Inkhil
-Students went out in a mass rally chanting in praise of besieged (bleeding) Homs and Rankoos and occupied Inkhil
-A mass rally mobilized marching through the town, condemning the speech of Walid Moallem and chanting in praise of Homs and the Damascus suburbs. There was a continued cut off of electricity.
=============================================
7. Alqaneya
-During the conference of Walid Moallem the security forces and Shabiha (regime-sponsored gangs) stormed the village of Alqaneya in Dar’aa, with reported arrests and complete surrounding of some homes.
=============================================
8. Ma’haja
-Mobilization of a protest after the afternoon prayer (Asr) demanding the execution of Bashar and the fall of his regime, as well as praise of the martyrs and the besieged (bleeding) cities and the Free Syrian Army
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDhngQa-orw
-Arrest of Abdul Ar-Razaq Almajaresh (50 years of age), father of the martyr Nathem Almajaresh, at military checkpoint on the Damascus Highway (Autostrad Dimashq) as he was on his way to work.
=============================================
11. Almata’iyah:
-Mobilization of a mass evening protest demanding the execution of Bashar and the fall of his regime and chants of praise for the martyrs, the besieged (bleeding) cities, and the Free Syrian Army.
=============================================
12. Tal Shehab:
-Mobilization of a mass evening protest in solidarity with the suffering cities and demanding the execution of Bashar and the fall of his regime, as well as chants praising the martyrs and the bleeding cities.
=============================================
13. Al’Hara
-Today security forces arrested Khaled Hussein AlWadee while he was at work in Damascus, and he is a native and inhabitant of Al’Hara village, and is also a husband who has children.
=============================================
14. At-Tayibah:
-Mobilization of mass evening protest demanding the execution of Bashr and the fall of his regime, as well as chants in praise of martyrs, the bleeding cities, and the Free Syrian Army.
-Arrest of two young men from At-Tayibah town:
1. Ayham Farhan Sa’ud, a manual laborer in the town of Dar’aa who was taken as he was beginning his work
2 – Ghilan Adnan Az-Zu’bi, a high school student taken at the checkpoint of As-sad Street
=============================================
15. Al-‘Harak
- Mobilization of a mass evening protest in solidarity with the suffering cities and demanding the execution of Bashar and the fall of his regime, as well as chants praising the martyrs and the bleeding cities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9uoRhYIiqA&feature=youtu.be

16. As-sanmeen
-Protest in the city of As-sanmin, despite the heavy security presence in the city and stressing the people’s demands for the execution of Bashar, a buffer-Zone, and a no fly zone to protect civilians
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsAZyH7mD5g&feature=youtu.be
=============================================
17. ‘Alma
-Mobilization of a mass evening protest demanding the execution of Bashar and the fall of his regime and chants of praise for the martyrs, the besieged (bleeding) cities, and the Free Syrian Army.
=============================================
18. Al-Jiza:
-Mass protest in the Martyrs’ Square (Sa’het Ash-Shuhada) demanding the departure of the regime and calling for protection of the demonstrators and the Free Syrian Army, as well as demanding the execution of Bashar
=============================================
20. Basr Al-‘Hareer
-Mobilization of a mass evening rally demanding the execution of Bashar and the fall of his regime and chants of praise for the martyrs, the besieged (bleeding) cities, and the Free Syrian Army
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tjrp1ReC-Uw&feature=youtu.be
=============================================
21. Jasem
-A rash of arrests in the AlSharqiyah neighborhood, and sounds of gunfire near the AlGharbee checkpoint
-Raids and arrests, including the raid of the house of ‘Ata al-A’tar using civilian vehicles, as well as general inspection of all vehicles and intimidation of the inhabitants of the city
=============================================
22. Tafs
-Mobilization of a mass evening protest in solidarity with the suffering cities and demanding the execution of Bashar and the fall of his regime, as well as chants praising the martyrs and the bleeding cities http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmW9p8DxarY&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDM4JNCxmTs&feature=youtu.be
-Massive student demonstration demanding the execution of Bashar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUEnkDhbW3U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vHy5Uh8Rqk&feature=youtu.be
=============================================
23. Na’hata
- Mobilization of a mass evening rally demanding the execution of Bashar and the fall of his regime and chants of praise for the martyrs, the besieged (bleeding) cities, and the Free Syrian Army
=============================================
24. ‘Atman
-Mobilization of a mass evening protest in solidarity with the suffering cities and demanding the execution of Bashar and the fall of his regime, as well as chants praising the martyrs and the bleeding cities
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsCwmelrvQo
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25. Taseel:
-Mobilization of a mass evening rally demanding the execution of Bashar, the fall of his regime, and protection of the unarmed civilians
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEQfCSOm6xg&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRcqXLBIpBo&feature=youtu.be
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26. Naseeb:
Mobilization of a mass evening rally demanding the execution of Bashar and the fall of his regime and chants of praise for the martyrs, the besieged (bleeding) cities, and the Free Syrian Army
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVcl3gCYF_Y&feature=youtu.be
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27. Al-Mlei’ha Al-Ghareeba
-Mobilization of a mass evening protest in solidarity with the suffering cities and demanding the execution of Bashar and the fall of his regime, as well as chants praising the martyrs and the bleeding cities
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgmciOxYqYw&feature=youtu.be

SNN | #Syria | Idlib: P1 of Summary and Videos of Events in Idlib, on Sunday, 20 Nov 2011

From: E.N.N https://www.facebook.com/Edlib.News.Network

For the 5th consecutive day, a complete blackout of all communication means; including landlines, wireless, and internet, from the entire province of Idlib, the news that successfully leak to us might be but a fraction of what is being committed by the regime, we warn that the regime is committing massacres and military campaigns in various regions of Idlib; while taking advantage of the lack of media coverage. And we call upon the world to look at our situation; winter season is chilling and there is a real crisis in all kinds of fuel as well as electricity.

Kafr Takharim town:

• Martyr Rudwan Al-Khadr joined yesterday’s martyrs, his body was found today, he was one of the 15 missing people. Which makes the known number –till now- of martyrs of Kafr Takharim [on yesterday] rise to 10.

• The army elements came back with 11 tanks, and they are stationed at, and have set up checkpoints-barricades, in the following areas:
1. The barricade-checkpoint at the cemetery to the north of the town.
2. The barricade-checkpoint downtown at Al-Hurriya (freedom) square – at the police station.
3. The barricade-checkpoint at the Gas station in the southern tip of the road to Idlib, at the edge of the town.

• The 3 detained women were released.

• The detainees who we know of:
Khalid Saeed
Rashid Al-Debl
Shady Hejju
Atta Al-Sourani
Hamid Kayyali
Nasser Al-Sarma
Omar Haji Asad
Isam Al-Surani
Dr. Badr al-Din Al-Sarma
Dr. Badr al-Din Jebs
Dr. Yusuf Kenjo
Omar Abdul-Ghafour
Nasser Abdul-Ghafour
Ala Haji Asad
Firas Haj Asad
Hisham Haj Asad
Qais Al-Afandi
Bassam Al-Aqel
Musab Ibrahim Muharram
Mohammed Mustafa Jebs

SNN | #Syria | Idlib: P2 of Summary and Videos of Events in Idlib, on Sunday, 20 Nov 2011

Taftanaz town:

• The following services and items were cut off for 3 days: electricity, fuel, landlines and wireless communications.
• Then, after those 3 days, regime forces stormed the town by around a 100 military vehicles accompanied by security buses.
• They stayed in the eastern area of the town and imposed a siege on the entire town by surrounding it from all sides, along with snipers on the rooftops.
• The invasion was accompanied by intensive firing from machine guns and heavy weapons, the shells of these weapons fell on many homes causing great damage. The minaret of the Grand Mosque was attacked and live bullets were fired directly at it.
• Water tanks were a direct target for regime forces fire.
• 2 martyrs fell as a result of this attack: martyr Hussein Jamal Shaban and martyr Maher Muhammad Rahhal.
• In addition to dozens of injuries, including wounding women and 2 female children, the victims were transported to the nearby town of Binnish, and in there the funeral procession were held for the 2 martyrs, whom afterward were buried in the cemetery of Taftanaz town.
• Khaled Abdul-Aziz Tahhan and Abdul-Hamid Hasan Tahhan were arrested.
• After sunset, the army withdrew and got stationed at the military airport of Taftanaz, following the defection of a large number of army elements who did not allow security forces in.
• The free women of Taftanaz sent a message to the world saying: God is with us, we are not afraid, we are certain of victory; and though we are living in a desert with no water, electricity, nor communication, but we have dignity and dignity is our bread.

Documentation Videos on Taftanaz:
Regime forces storming Tantanaz town:
P1 http://youtu.be/B7locrN98Kc
P2 http://youtu.be/aZgIp-KBluQ
P3 Shabiha (regime-sponsored gangs) elements during the invasion http://youtu.be/WXWePzlbIVs
P4 Security and Shabiha concentration at road-junctions http://youtu.be/iw1SegCCfQg
P5 Snipers on the roofs of high buildings http://youtu.be/CXDh1qbYg4Q
P6 The army entering Taftanaz http://youtu.be/3FgdYbnYVms
P7 Firing at the Grand Mosque http://youtu.be/eiPMWROEmy0
P8 Firing at the Grand Mosque http://youtu.be/KD—5Ed0wVA

Taftanaz – Martyr, Hussein Shaban http://youtu.be/7gjyumxw960
Taftanaz’s Martyrs, Maher Rahhal and Hussein Shaban http://youtu.be/C73YUPiMwGg

Taftanaz’s martyrs funeral procession which was held in Binnish town due to the siege imposed on Taftanaz
P1 http://youtu.be/GEFnyj9WlTo
P2 http://youtu.be/d83zSatzSVg
P3 http://youtu.be/CGo0OixUUmQ

General Strike in Binnish town in solidarity with the people of Taftanaz
P1 http://youtu.be/Qrekp7cifEs
P2 http://youtu.be/HJyFTKESoXw

Jesr Al-Shoghour:
• The army’s 4th division (555) is now deployed heavily in the city, with them, there are BTRs painted blue, which are spread all over Jesr Al-Shoghour, as part of deploying additional forces in the regions close by the borders.

• Security forces killed Mehrez Najari after his mission was done, so he won’t reveal what he knew; note that he had helped security a lot when they entered Jesr Al-Shogour.

The border regions:
Continuation of moving military reinforcement to the north, close by the border regions, the reinforcements with rockets and anti-aircraft equipments are passing through Sahl Al-Ghab in the direction of Jesr Al-Shoghour in anticipation of the enforcement of a Buffer-Zone.