How Assad Is Losing (#Syria)

The Syrian uprising started in the provincial town of Dera’a and came to a turning point in another provincial town, Zabadani. These two towns have very little in common, but for their strong opposition to the murderous dictatorship of the Ba’ath party and the Alawite community led by the Assad family.

At least one Syrian dictatorship of the past, that of Adib Shishakli, was brought down in February of 1954 by riots starting in the Hauran region, by members of the Druze community. Other than this coup, major political upheavals in Syria were dominated by events in Damascus and Aleppo, the two traditional political/economic centers of power in Syria.

The fact that these cities are relatively quieter than towns like Homs, Hamah, Idlib and others led many Syrian watchers to the wrong conclusion that the Assad regime is somehow going to survive even the current storm, simply because they have much lesser effect on the Syrian situation than the biggest metropolitan areas. The events in Zabadani should convince the greatest skeptics that the regime is doomed, even if the final straw is yet to come.

Zabadani is a Sunni town, with a Christian minority in between Damascus and the Syrian-Lebanese border. This is a resort town, capitalizing on its good climatic conditions and surely not as poor as Dera’a and other provincial towns are. The fact, that the population of this town revolted against the regime is a clear indication that the opposition to the regime derives from multiple reasons, not just because of poor socio-economic conditions. In Zabadani, the rebels demonstrated the strength of the combined power of the armed units of The Free Syria Army backed by a determined civilian population. A lot of observers belittled the former, no doubt feeling justified to do so by the often exaggerated claims of the rebellious army and its leaders.

The situation in Zabadani proves that the armed rebels are well on their way to become an effective force; enough, at least, to fight the depleted armed forces of the regime. The defections from the army are much bigger than what was perceived to be the case, and the defectors, in some instances entire organic units are doing it with the supreme motivation of defending their own people, the Sunnis, believing that they can do it only by toppling the regime. The dictator has dwindling resources with which to fight back, since it can’t trust the loyalty of units which are not purely Alawite. Therefore, the regime has to increasingly rely on the non-regular Alawite militia of the Shabiha, but as proved in the case of Zabadani, this is an ineffective force when it has to engage in a real fight, rather than in a merciless massacre of defenseless civilians.

The material/financial resources of the regime are also decreasing rapidly, as the sanctions do have an effect. It is estimated, that short of an immediate, unexpected infusion of many billions of Iranian dollars the regime will be unable to pay its remaining loyalists in a matter of few months. The Iranians have their own cash problem, caused by the sanctions imposed on them; Russia may continue to shower the regime with bombastic statements of support but no cash, and so the Assad government has to think about the inevitable. In that case, where to fight back and how much resources to invest in this battle. There are many indications that the Alawite elite is bracing itself to the final option of withdrawing to the Alawite mountains in North-West Syria. The withdrawal from Zabadani may seem to add credibility to these reports, but it is premature to come to that conclusion. The regime may still plan a counter-attack at a more opportune moment and reclaim the liberated town, but Assad and his cronies know, that what happened in Zabadani can and will solidify the resolve of the opposition in other parts of Syria.

The Syrian rebels needed a victory to serve as symbol, and even more so, as a rallying point for the continuation of the uprising. So, the town of Zabadani, so insignificant in the past, is suddenly becoming the flash-point of the Sunni uprising. Let’s remember also, that the rebels will clearly use their control of a region so close to the Lebanese border in order to get increasing amount of support from their Lebanese allies.

They will have to make sure, that no hardships will befall upon the Christian population in Zabadani in order to show to the Arab world and the international community that they are a responsible military-civilian movement getting better ready than before to succeed the crumbling Alawite dictatorship.

Hopefully, that will be the case, and if it is Zabadani will ensure itself a prominent

Place in the annals of modern Syria.

Source: The Huffington Post

In #Syria, world inaction fuels armed revolt

Soldiers of the Free Syrian Army, formed by army deserters, take position in an undisclosed location. The opposition said rebel soldiers forced government troops into a cease-fire in a border town Wednesday.

By Liz Sly, Thursday, January 19, 2:52 PM

BEIRUT — Growing indications that a deeply divided international community is either unable or unwilling to intervene to halt the violence in Syria are fueling an armed rebellion that risks plunging the country, and perhaps the region, into a wider war.

The slide toward all-out conflict seemed to accelerate Wednesday after the opposition claimed that Syrian government forces had been forced to accept a cease-fire negotiated with rebel soldiers in the town of Zabadani, near the Lebanese border.

 

Rebel soldiers who identified themselves as members of the Free Syrian Army and a Zabadani activist said loyalist soldiers retreated Wednesday afternoon, five days after launching an offensive to quell dissent in Zabadani. The mountain resort 20 miles north of Damascus is one of as many as three dozen places in Syria that the opposition says have slipped beyond government control in recent weeks.

Witnesses said the government troops appeared to be heading toward another of the restive towns outside the capital. Offensives by Damascus have ebbed and flowed throughout the 10-month-old uprising, and the rebels acknowledged that the security forces may merely be regrouping before returning with reinforcements. The account, widely reported by Arabic TV networks but not by government media, could not be independently confirmed.

Activists nonetheless hailed the event as a symbolic turning point, heralding the possibility that the simmering armed revolt may force President Bashar al-Assad’s government to compromise.

“To force the regime to negotiate with the people and withdraw their soldiers under pressure is a political victory,” Kamal Labwani, a dissident who was freed in November after serving nearly 10 years in prison, said by telephone from Jordan.

“This shows we can achieve freedom by ourselves and not with the help of forces coming from outside. It means that if we take up weapons, we can defend ourselves and bring our own freedom,” he said.

Evidence has mounted for months that the once-peaceful Syrian opposition has been resorting to arms, but the fading hope of outside help is hardening the conviction that only violence will dislodge Assad, activists say.

“Until now there is not civil war, but if the international community continues like this, just watching and doing nothing, there will be,” said Omar Shakir, an activist in the Bab Amr neighborhood of Homs, which has emerged as the epicenter of the armed rebellion.

An Arab League monitoring mission has been unable to stop the killing, the Syrian opposition’s mostly exiled political leadership has proved too divided to present a coherent alternative to the Assad government, and the daily death toll tallied by both sides shows the steadily escalating bloodshed.

On Wednesday, the official SANA news agency reported the funerals of 14 members of the security forces who were killed by what it called “terrorists.” Activist groups said the security forces killed at least 21 people.

“This is not going to stop. It’s becoming an armed rebellion, it’s going to be chaos, and I don’t know why the world doesn’t understand that,” said Rami Jarrah, a Syrian activist living in Cairo who was forced to flee Damascus in October after the security forces learned his identity.

Jarrah and other observers say they fear the inaction will not only encourage opponents of the government to fight but also encourage a drift toward extreme ideologies.

“People are getting more angry now as they realize there won’t be any help,” he said. “It’s building up hatred to the West, and it’s becoming extremism. It’s very dangerous now.”

 

Protesters have clamored for a NATO no-fly zone similar to the one that helped bring about the fall of Moammar Gaddafi’s regime in Libya, but as they come to realize that Western intervention in Syria is unlikely, Islamist groups are winning support, said Wissam Tarif, a human rights campaigner with the activist group Avaaz.

“The only people who are organized and credible are the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis,” he said. “The dangerous thing is almost no one believes in peaceful struggle anymore. They want weapons.”

Activists in Syria say they have no agenda or ideology other than Assad’s ouster, but they acknowledge that Sunni Islamists have been gaining ground in the battle to dislodge a regime dominated by Assad’s minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, raising the prospect of heightened sectarianism.

“Until a month ago, no one supported the Brotherhood, but today we would support Israel if they helped us take Bashar out,” said Shakir, the activist in Homs. “Today we support anyone without questions if they help us.”

Yet the international community is as divided as the Syrian opposition over how to address the dangerously intractable revolt.

Russia made it clear Wednesday that it would veto any U.N. Security Council resolution that might open the door to international intervention, dampening U.S. and European hopes of revisiting efforts to condemn Syria at the world body after Russian and Chinese vetoes of a resolution in October.

“If some intend to use force at all cost . . . we can hardly prevent that from happening,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow. “But let them do it at their own initiative on their own conscience. They won’t get any authorization from the U.N. Security Council.”

The stakes for Russia are high. Syria is a longtime ally dating to the Cold War era, and Russia relies on its basing rights at the Syrian port of Tartous for access to the Mediterranean. Lavrov declined to confirm or deny widespread reports that a Russian ship delivered 60 tons of weaponry to the Syrian government during a stop at the port last week.

“We are only trading with Syria in items which aren’t banned by international law,” he said.

The Russian comments shifted the focus of diplomacy back to the Arab League monitoring mission, which is due to announce its conclusions Thursday. Arab League ministers are set to meet in Cairo over the weekend to decide whether to renew the mission or seek U.N. support for broader action.

But the Arab world also is split over how to deal with the unfolding violence in a country whose complex ethnic and sectarian makeup mirrors many of the region’s most explosive fault lines. Iraq and Lebanon, with Shiite majorities, have sided with the Syrian government, as has Shiite Iran. The Sunni-led states of the Arabian Gulf, spearheaded by Qatar, are pressing for tougher action to replace the government, and the emir of Qatar told CBS that he would support the dispatch of Arab troops to Syria to end the violence.

Tellingly, however, the comment was made in an interview two months ago but was not discussed until the network aired it on the weekend. It appears to have garnered little support.

Source: Washington Post

#Syria tanks and troops ‘enter protest town, Zabadani’

The Syrian authorities have sent troops and tanks into the town of Zabadani, near the Lebanese border, following big demonstrations there against President Bashar al-Assad, activists say.


Before the army assault on Zabadani children were on the streets calling for President Assad to resign

The army bombarded the town, but met some resistance, according to reports.

Tens of thousands of people took part in rallies across Syria in support of the Free Syrian Army, a group of army defectors seeking to topple Mr Assad.

One activist group says 12 civilians were killed, three of them children.

Kamal al-Labwani, a senior opposition figure from Zabadani who fled to Jordan two weeks ago, said communications had been cut, but that he had managed to speak to several people in the town.

“Tanks are bombarding the town and have entered the outskirts, but they are being met with resistance,” he told Reuters news agency. “The Free Syrian Army has strong presence in the area.”

The Local Co-ordination Committees, an activist group that organises and documents protests, said the nearby town of Madaya was also being shelled, and that several people had been injured.

map

Children were earlier photographed at an anti-Assad rally in Zabadani, which lies 30km (19 miles) northwest of the capital Damascus.

Journalists are unable to report freely in Syria and details of events on the ground are impossible to verify.

Earlier in the day, large crowds of demonstrators took to the streets in the cities of Aleppo, Deir al-Zour, Homs, Hama, Idlib and in many suburbs of the capital Damascus.

Nationwide protests

Heavy fighting was also reported in Homs - one of the main centres of unrest.

The Local Co-ordination Committees said a total of 12 civilians had been killed nationwide on Friday, including five in Homs.

Syria deaths

  • More than 5,000 civilians have been killed, says the UN
  • More than 400 killed since start of Arab League mission on 26 December
  • 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

Opposition activists called for demonstrations in support of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) a day after it agreed to co-ordinate its operations more closely with the main opposition coalition, the Syrian National Council (SNC).

The SNC initially opposed the use of force in the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, while the FSA operated independently.

The FSA has said it is behind attacks on Syrian security forces, and the authorities have acknowledged mounting losses.

The Syrian government says it is fighting foreign-backed terrorist groups.

The head of the Arab League, Nabil al-Arabi, warned on Friday that Syria could be heading towards war.

“I fear a civil war and the events that we see and hear about now could lead to a civil war,” he said.

Also on Friday, a Russian ship reportedly docked at the Syrian port of Tartous, after being detained earlier this week by Cypriot authorities because it was transporting “dangerous cargo” - thought to be ammunition.

The vessel was allowed to leave Cyprus on Wednesday after giving written assurances that its destination would not be Syria.

Source: BBC

#Syria sniper shot high when officers ordered him to kill

Syrian snipers have killed hundreds of protesters during the ten-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. The Sunday Telegraph met one who became sickened by the killing and now wants to fight against the regime.

Syrian state television broadcasts pictures of thousands attending the funerals of 26 people killed in Damascus in Friday’s suicide bomb attack Photo: REUTERS

By Nick Meo, Tripoli, Lebanon

8:43PM GMT 07 Jan 2012

For months Mohammed Ismael, a softly-spoken and clean-shaven 23-year-old, sat on the rooftops of buildings in Hama, menacing the city’s population with his powerful Chinese-made rifle.

He watched through his telescopic lens as men, women and children scattered in panic as his shots rang out, dropping their anti-regime banners and running for the cover of buildings and alleyways.

As a highly-trained sniper with the Syrian army’s elite 18th Division, he was repeatedly ordered by his officers to shoot protesters. He observed as the secret police arrested and savagely beat the people on the streets below him, and he listened as a handful of his comrades, hardcore regime supporters, boasted about their own prowess at hitting their mark - chalking up tallies of dead demonstrators who, they believed, were stooges paid $100 a day by Israel and other enemies of Syria.

But Mr Ismael, a Bedouin Arab from the desert region in the east of the country, was not so sure.

“At first we believed the officers when they said we were fighting against enemies of Syria,” he said. “We weren’t allowed to watch television and they took our mobile phones away, so we didn’t understand what was happening in our country.

“We were so excited. We wanted to do our duty and fight terrorists. But some of us soon realised that the crowds were just ordinary people, chanting for freedom.”

He dared not refuse to shoot, aware that if he did so he could be killed himself. Instead, he says, he was careful always to miss his targets: aiming slightly too high, silently praying that his bullet would hit nobody, and only then squeezing the trigger. To his relief, he claims, he never saw a body fall.

Finally it all became too much and in October - by now posted to a village near the Lebanese border - Mr Ismael decided to escape his unit. But as he did so he was shot in the shoulder, almost certainly by his commanding officer, he believes, and bleeding profusely had to be hauled to safety by other refugees.

Now Mr Ismael is among the growing number of Syrian army defectors who have found their way along a dangerous route across the border into neighbouring Lebanon.

Some have now joined the loose organistion that they call the Free Syrian Army, which is dedicated to fighting back against the regime - and Mr Ismael is convinced that thousands more would leave their posts almost immediately if only they had somewhere safe inside their own country to flee to.

“I wanted to escape in May, as soon as I realised that we had been lied to,” Mr Ismael told The Sunday Telegraph at his hiding place in the Lebanese city of Tripoli. “But there was nowhere to go then. Nearly everyone in the government army is secretly against the regime, but who wants to lose his life and throw away his future and that of his family for nothing?

“They would all defect if they had a chance.”

Like other army deserters, he believes the West has the means to provide that chance, and perhaps force the rapid collapse of the regime. “If there were a no fly zone, and some protected territory where army deserters could flee to, it would all be over quickly,” he said.

“Thousands of soldiers would defect, and they would kill the hard-core generals who still support President Bashar al-Assad. Peaceful protests are not enough. We need the Free Syrian Army and it needs the support of foreign countries.”

After 10 months of mostly peaceful protest in which the United Nations estimates 5,000 demonstrators have been killed, more and more opponents of Syria’s brutal regime are resigning themselves to the need to take up arms.

On Sunday an Arab League committee meets in Cairo to decide on whether to allow a team of monitors inside Syria to continue its work - where violence has not abated since it entered last weekend.

To add to the growing death toll inflicted on protesters, on Friday a suicide bomber apparently targeting a police bus in central Damascus killed 26 people and wounded 63. The government blamed the bloody attack on al-Qaeda, vowing an “iron fist” response. But a spokesman for the Syrian National Council blamed recent bombs on the “regime’s dirty game”, and activists pointed out that the attack was in Midan, an area with regular demonstrations on Fridays.

Soldiers who have deserted to Lebanon were blunter. Mr Ismael said: “There is no al Qaeda in Syria, this was done by the regime to try to frighten people. They want Syrians to think that if the regime falls, there will be bloodshed and civil war like in Iraq. Syrians know it is not true, they know the regime are killers.”

Karalokh Kal, a Syrian activist who fled to Beirut six weeks ago, said: “The regime was always a supporter of al Qaeda in Iraq so why should al Qaeda attack them now?

“The regime is ruthless enough to shed the blood of the poor, even of the thugs who it pays to support it who were killed in this bomb.”

Protesters in Syrian cities now call for military support from the West, after crowds initially insisted that Syrians could carry out a peaceful revolution by themselves.

Even educated liberals support the armed option, in many cases with a heavy heart.

“When I started protesting in the streets my parents said the regime would kill us, but we didn’t listen,” said one idealistic young medic who was forced to flee to Lebanon from Homs when the secret police came looking for him.

“We were hopeful and we thought we could bring the government down like they did in Egypt. Now I think the Free Syrian Army is the only way. And it needs weapons and help from abroad.”

Syria’s divided opposition in exile has argued over whether the revolution should take up arms and seek foreign military help. Last week in an interview with The Daily Telegraph the head of the Syrian National Council, Burhan Ghalioun, called for limited Western intervention, including air power to protect pockets of territory where anti-regime forces could rally and train - along the border with Turkey and perhaps the border with Jordan.

So far Turkey has talked tough but has refrained from active intervention, despite the flood of refugees entering from across the Syrian border, and other Western powers have remained unwilling to repeat their successful but expensive operation to enable regime change within Libya.

Those Syrians who hope the West will change its mind have been heartened in recent weeks at hearing stronger French criticisms of the Damascus regime.

But for now, the Free Syrian Army consists of only a few thousand lightly-armed men, capable of launching hit-and-run attacks against the regime but not a threat to its survival.

Its leader, Colonel Riad al-Asaad, last week threatened to launch attacks from his refuge on the Turkish border, but it was doubtful how many men really answer to him or what damage they can inflict.

Defectors claim that tens of thousands of soldiers have now fled their barracks, in many cases with their guns, and some have attempted to protect demonstrations from attack, with limited success. But the regime’s army probably still exceeds 300,000 men, armed with tanks and heavy weapons, making it a far more formidable force than anything at Colonel Gaddafi’s disposal in Libya.

Other army defectors whom The Sunday Telegraph met last week, huddled over a stove in the lawless Wadi Khalid area along the mountainous border, were hazy about the SFA to which they claimed to belong.

A former soldier called Zain said: “At the moment when a soldier defects he doesn’t know where to go, he needs sanctuary. If the SFA held territory inside Syria thousands would desert. We know that many of our old comrades would be desperate to get out of the army if they had a chance.”

The defectors are scathing about those activists who have themselves fled to Beirut, the Lebanese capital, but who still insist that their Syrian compatriots can bring down the regime without foreign help.

“Those activists who say we need a peaceful revolution, they are sitting in bars in Beirut enjoying themselves and they have no idea what it is like on the ground,” said a colleague.

“They can’t see what is going on and they don’t understand how much people are suffering in places like Hama. Food is cut off for neighbourhoods that are anti-regime, there is no power, and snipers shoot people at random.

“I’m sure that in these conditions, most people in Syria want foreign military help. They don’t want ground troops, but they do want a no-fly zone.”

Whether they get it or not, the defectors are determined to fight against the regime, and believe they now have no choice.

“If we fight, we believe we will win eventually. If we stop fighting, Assad will kill us all,” Mr Ismael said.

Source: telegraph.co.uk

Silence in #Syria’s Homs as foreign reporters visit restive city

Homs Governor Ghassan abdul-Al said a military presence is necessary in Homs to ensure public safety. (Photo: Abdullah Bozkurt)

6 January 2012 / ABDULLAH BOZKURT, HOMS
Life seems to have returned to normal in restive Homs, Syria’s third-largest city and home to about 800,000 people. Or so it seemed on the Syrian government-organized foreign-media tour on Thursday.

This writer joined some 30 foreign reporters from Turkey, Japan, Germany, Austria and Algeria. The trip was carefully choreographed by the Ministry of Information, and it was obvious that the places visited were selected to project the government’s version of events that have unfolded since mid-March. Nevertheless, it gave some clues as to what is happening on the ground as the Syrian government has long denied the entry of foreign journalists into the country.

On the 100-mile stretch from Damascus to Homs, there were no visible tanks or heavy artillery munitions located on either side of the highway. Yet, the voyage was interrupted several times by army checkpoints. There were some sandbagged army posts with soldiers carrying machine guns positioned at the entry to Homs. Homs governor Ghassan abdul-Al defended the army presence as “being there to ensure public safety.”

But in the city, traffic was hectic as usual, garbage was piled up in the middle of roads and people seemed to be attending to their business. There was nothing out of ordinary on the path we were taken along to visit places, though intelligence officials were quick to disperse crowds gathering around the reporters and TV crewmen.

Reporters were taken to inspect what the guides said was an indication of the volume of destruction and sabotage of public places by people whom they described as “insurgents and terrorists.”In the Homs National Hospital, called Vatan and located in a rundown district of the city, Gassan Tannusi, the hospital manager, showed a triage room on the first floor that had bullet marks in the walls and ceilings. “The shot came from outside,” he said, pointing to a window’s broken glass and showing the trajectory of a bullet.

He said the insurgents fired at the hospital to put pressure on personnel to evacuate the building, thus cutting off medical supplies. Though he did not say anything, there were visible bullet marks in the empty first floor of another building across from the hospital, indicating there had been an exchange of fire between the two buildings. It was difficult to verify what the hospital manager said without accounts from witnesses.

It was interesting to note that no patients were seen in the hospital even though an emergency stretcher with fresh bloodstains was parked in a corner of the hospital. The hospital was in very poor shape. The rusty window grills blocked the sunlight from the rooms. Paintings on the wall had peeled away here and there, the dirt was visible everywhere. Soldiers in full-armed gear were hauled away as the reporters were about to enter the hospital.

In contrast, the Homs Military Hospital was in better shape, and reporters were given access to wounded soldiers receiving treatment there. All of the patients were delivering the same scripted stories and labeling insurgents foreign agents who want to destabilize the country. Amin Baddul, a 27-year-old private, got shot when his patrol came under attack from insurgent groups crossing from the Lebanese border. “It was a shooting by masked men in blue jeans. I got a bullet in my leg, and my two friends got killed in the shootout,” he said. Teysir Sheadi Tariff was standing by the bed of his 27-year-old son, wounded by gunshots to both legs. He told a similar nationalistic tale.

The group was later taken to an Alawi neighborhood in the Akrame district, where it met with a cheering crowd of some 100 people, who were chanting pro-Assad slogans and holding pro-army placards. People with pictures of loved ones who got kidnapped, murdered or wounded were asking reporters to convey their stories to an international audience. It was obvious the meeting was well-planned by government officials, with video-footage of what officials describe as the brutal murders of Alawis by Sunni insurgents.

Reja Hayek, an OB/GYN specialist, said the situation is very tense in the Homs neighborhood where Alawis live in fear from Sunni insurgents. “Both groups have started to arm themselves. The army is here to protect us from the terrorists. All the terrorists are Sunnis,” she claimed. Describing herself as an Alawi and an atheist at the same time, Hayek, educated in Turkey in late 70s, is thinking of going back to Turkey for safety and security. Although organizers of this meeting said the reporters were welcome to knock on the door of any house in this Alawi neighborhood, the request to have access to a Sunni neighborhood was denied. It seems the seeds of a potential civil war along sectarian lines are growing in Homs, which is made up primarily of Sunni Muslims but has Alawi Muslim, Greek Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox Christian minorities.

If anything useful came out of the trip, it was during the question-and-answer session with Homs governor Ghassan abdul-Al. Even though he was evasive and denied most things in his responses to reporters’ questions, the Homs governor gave indications of what is happening in this province. He said there is no dialogue taking place with insurgents because they want to topple the government. “No government anywhere in the world would accept that,” he said, stressing that insurgents’ demands have nothing to do with reforms.

He said government forces have seized cars full of arms and ammunition coming from over the Lebanese and Turkish borders. “I do not claim that the governments of Lebanon or Turkey are involved in these shipments. Smugglers and arms dealers are exploiting this situation,” he said, adding that without financial resources, insurgents cannot buy these weapons.

The Homs governor acknowledged that government forces may have shot at civilians but said this has happened in high-density areas while fighting is taking place between army soldiers and insurgents. “Civilians may have been caught in the middle,” he argued. Ghassan said the government set up a judicial committee to investigate deliberate or accidental killings of civilians by security personnel. He declined to give the number of convictions or investigations into these killings.

The Homs governor said 415 soldiers and 503 civilians have been killed in the province by insurgents, while 324 kidnappings have been reported. Asked about the reports of kidnappings by security forces, Ghassan said, “We call them political prisoners, not kidnappings.” According to him, 3,707 causalities have been recorded across Syria since the unrest began in March. “Since then, 2,100 police and army soldiers have been killed,” he added.

Source: todayszaman.com