Revolt edges into Syria

[waraich66]

Middle East News - Headlines, Stories and Video from CNN.com International

 

[Tin Man]

Situation seems very bad for israel.

 

[StingRoy]

 

[EjazR]

Syria is the opposite of Bahrain, here you have a shia minority running a secular dictatorship ruthlessly over a sunni majority. The last major protests were in 1982, when about 10,000 protestors were killed.

Syria kills demonstrators as protests grow - The Boston Globe

CAIRO — Military troops opened fire during protests in the southern part of Syria yesterday and killed peaceful demonstrators, according to witnesses and news reports, hurtling the strategically important nation along the same trajectory that has altered the landscape of power across the Arab world.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators in the southern city of Dara’a and in other cities and towns took to the streets in protest, defying a state that has once again demonstrated its willingness to use lethal force.

It was the most serious challenge to 40 years of repressive rule by the al-Assad family since 1982, when the president at the time, Hafez al-Assad, massacred at least 10,000 protesters in Hama, a city in northern Syria.

Human rights groups said that since protests began seven days ago in the south, 38 people had been killed by government forces — and it appeared that many more were killed yesterday. Precise details were hard to obtain because the government sealed off the area to reporters and would not let foreign media into the country.

“Syria’s security forces are showing the same cruel disregard for protesters’ lives as their counterparts in Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Bahrain,’’ said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

The new round of protests and bloodshed came a day after the Syrian government tried to appease an increasingly angry popular revolt with talk of improved political freedoms and promises of restraint.

Instead, it unleashed its forces, firing on peaceful demonstrators in and near Dara’a, according to a witness. There were reports of security forces firing on civilians in cities around the country as well. For the first time since the protests began, crowds called for the downfall of the government and in one instance tore down a billboard-size photo of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad.

Ahmed Sayasna, the imam of the Omari mosque in Dara’a, said the violence began after crowds set a fire under a statue of Hafez al-Assad, the current president’s father. Speaking by phone, Sayasna said thousands of people gathered near the statue after Friday Prayer when officers from Syria’s central security forces lobbed tear gas canisters and opened fire with live ammunition. He said about 20 people were killed, and many more wounded.

In Sanamayn, a city of 27,000 people about 40 miles north of Dara’a, a video posted on YouTube showed at least seven bloodied bodies lying on stretchers, at least three clearly with gunshot wounds. Sayasna said 10 to 15 people were killed there, while residents told the Associated Press that as many as 20 people had been killed. These figures that could not be confirmed.

In the capital, Damascus, several hundred protesters tried to rally but were quickly dispersed by security forces as progovernment supporters took to the streets honking car horns and waving photographs of al-Assad. In the city’s majestic Umayyad mosque, some men rose from prayer shouting “God, Syria, and freedom only’’ — a counterpoint to the chants of progovernment supporters. There were also reports of troops firing on demonstrators in the suburbs.

In Latakia, al-Assad’s hometown, two people died as protesters faced off against progovernment supporters, a witness said. A video posted on YouTube shows the body of young man with a bullet wound being carried by protesters. There were reports of protests and scores of arrests in several other cities.

On Thursday, a longtime minister and adviser to the president, Bouthaina Shaaban, appeared to edge close to an apology for the deaths, insisting that the president had ordered security forces not to fire. Shaaban then laid out what she framed as concessions, saying that the government promised to consider lifting a state of emergency in place for decades and would consider more political freedoms — offerings that were dismissed out of hand by the public because they had been put forth before, in 2005, and never carried out.

Less than 24 hours later, witnesses reported that live fire was turned on unarmed protesters.

Syria’s emergency law, in place since the Baath Party took power in 1963, has long been a focus of critics, who say it grants the government license to jail anyone with little pretext.

Syria has few resources but a strategic location bordering Iraq, Israel, Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan that its leaders have often tried to use as leverage.

The cascading events in Syria bear a remarkable resemblance to the course taken in other nations in the Arab world, where a relatively small incident — in this case the arrest of children who scrawled graffiti: “The people want the fall of the regime’’ in Dara’a — led to protests and a lethal government response. That in turn fueled wider rage, prompting government talk of concessions that were too little, too late.

 

[Developereo]

I was in Damascus many moons ago. The Syrians are a very friendly and hospitable people.

Hopefully they get freedom from this dictator.

 

[JonAsad]

Middle East News - Headlines, Stories and Video from CNN.com International

I didn't like your God is great Rant here-
When you should know this will eventually mean another muslim country will fell into the crusaders war trophy- its army destroyed- how naive you can be- can't you see that the only muslim arab countries with some what strong militaries are falling apart- Now tell me what Bahrain- Libya and Syria will become?- another American or west puppet like KSA- Kuwait- UAE etc?- Did you want that?-You can kiss your ummah and khilafat concept good bye-

 

[Last Hope]

Off topic. As a extention of reply of G.R. One of the signs of the Last day is, there would be chaos and fights between people and will over throw their own MUSLIM leaders. Another one, that people would be ruled by the worst leaders ever who would not care and let them die.

Anyways, my best wishes for those who are taking part to overthrow the bloodsucking government.

 

[Bang Galore]

I didn't like your God is great Rant here-

I don't like that either but for completely different reasons.

What does God have to do with this? Where was he before? Was he not great then? Is he great only now? Why is God taking sides now? He is not much of a democrat anyways, is he? Thought he would prefer dictatorship with all the ordering about that they do.

 

[MUHARIB]

WTF is happening in the middle east??

 

[JonAsad]

I don't like that either but for completely different reasons.

What does God have to do with this? Where was he before? Was he not great then? Is he great only now? Why is God taking sides now? He is not much of a democrat anyways, is he? Thought he would prefer dictatorship with all the ordering about that they do.

Lol- the only difference is- i have submitted myself to the will of God- so i do not need such questions- nor i seek such answers- I am at Peace-

 

[metro]

Its just the beginning. Political unrest is happening across the planet, including India.
And this unrest would continue till 2013. i dont know what would be the result of this unrest for the rest of the world.
But for India, its going to shape its future, positively.

 

[JonAsad]

Its just the beginning. Political unrest is happening across the planet, including India.
And this unrest would continue till 2013. i dont know what would be the result of this unrest for the rest of the world.
But for India, its going to shape its future, positively.

and i thought world was suppose to end at 2012 -
Global Warming- Earth Quakes- Floods- Revolutions- Nuclear Disasters- ashok321- all will lead to total destruction-

 

[President Camacho]

It is about Yemen, and not Syria, but just a hint at what is going on. Oh yes, Oil hasn't gone below 100, except for the day when Gaddafi declared ceasefire.

WTF is happening in the middle east??

A shipment of 16,000 pistols worth an estimated Dh16 million and bound for Yemen – the largest cache of illegal arms ever found in the UAE – was seized earlier this month, Dubai Police said yesterday.

The final destination for the guns was to be the town of Sa’dah, in northern Yemen. The area has been the site of fighting between the Shiite Houthi rebel group and Yemeni government forces for the past seven years.


Police said they did not yet know to whom the weapons were to be distributed. (Anyone can guess)

Lt Gen Dahi Khalfan Tamim, the head of Dubai Police, said yesterday: “With current conditions in Yemen, all possibilities are open. It could just be illegal arms dealers who want to exploit the current situation. But they may also have been intended for use in demonstrations – to fire on demonstrators and then blame the security forces for these acts, or to arm political groups.” (With the current condition, only one possibility is there)

“As a police officer, I have to say that there could be more [smuggling attempts]. If I were to say no, I would not be Dubai Police chief,” he said. (Should at least release the estimate of how many might have passed on)

Among the suspects identified were the owner of a Turkish gun factory and a man in Yemen who was to receive the shipment.

The pistols had been sent by sea from Turkey and stopped in Port Said, Egypt, before they were re-routed through an unnamed Gulf country to Dubai because of what police described only as the “unavailability of a navigation route”.

It is not clear if the re-routed shipment traveled by land or sea to Dubai, but police officials confirmed it was destined to leave Dubai by sea. The shipping container was discovered after the State Security Department received information about an illegal weapon shipment entering Dubai and, in co-ordination with Dubai Police, began an investigation. (Spies at work?)

Police said they intercepted the container on March 9 at a warehouse in Dubai.

The weapons were hidden in boxes of plastic-wrapped furniture.
Police described the weapons as “counterfeit” reproductions of popular models and said they were produced in a Turkish factory. (Counterfeit, but working... cheap quick production)


As many as six varieties of guns were found, including ammunition.


Exactly the same thing happened in Purulia when Moaists were busy organizing themselves. And it is still a mystery.

http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/16-000-pistols-bound-for-yemen-seized-in-dubai

 

[MilSpec]

Looks like democracy is not a failed concept after all....Tunisia.. Egypt..Libya.. Yemen .. now Syria... its great to see peaceful protest and non co-operation is overthrowing tyrannical rules ... non-coop power is back in the game to kick oppressive regimes after 64 years

 

[Thoma Yosip]

My hope is that when, not if, democratic rule becomes the norm throughout North Africa and the Middle East, that the new governments do not allow discrimination against their minorities, religious and otherwise.