Syria Watch

Violence in Damascus Proceeds Into Second day

By Ali Al-Bassam
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria — Fierce fighting continued in Damascus between Syrian troops and rebels for the second day in a row.  According to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (SOHR), the clashes that occurred across the country last Sunday left 105 dead including 48 civilians, 16 rebels, and 41 soldiers.

Neighborhoods
Clashes between government and rebel forces broke out in several Damascus neighborhoods. (Photo Courtesy of BBC News)

The fighting on Monday briefly closed the highway between the capital and Damascus International Airport, which is located to the city’s south.  Troops backed by armored vehicles are said to have advanced through the central neighbourhood of Midan, driving out rebels who had secured a foothold within striking distance of major state installations.  The military deployment has been described as the largest one in the capital since the start of the uprising.  Monday’s offensive reportedly battered several other neighbourhoods in the capital, including Midan, Tadamon, Kfar Souseh, Nahr Aisha, and Sidi Qadad.

Fighting between government and rebel forces also occurred in the town of Qatana, 20 kilometers away from the capital.  Elsewhere, government troops shelled the besieged Homs districts of Khaldiyeh, Jourat al-Shiah, and Qarabees.  SOHR also reported that government forces raided the city of Hama, just north of Damascus.

UN observers again visited the central Syrian village of Treimsa, where, according to SOHR, Thursday’s shelling and fighting left more than 150 people dead, including dozens of rebels.  The opposition and part of the international community declared it a “massacre.”  In a statement made Sunday night, the UN mission said that “more than 50 houses were burned and/or destroyed” in Treimsa, stating the presence of “pools of blood and body parts.”

On Monday, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov accused the west of “elements of blackmail,” warning that the UN observer mission would not see its mandate extended later this month if Moscow did not agree to UN sanctions.  Russia, which has strong ties with Syria and has vetoed several calls for foreign intervention , circulated its own draft resolution calling for the mandate’s extension  but without the threat of sanctions.  Mr. Lavrov said that it was “not right” to say that pressure should only be brought upon the government of Bashar Al-Assad and not on the opposition.

“We do not support Assad,” he said.  “We support what has been agreed on by all sides.”

Mr. Lavrov also said it was unrealistic to expect Russia to persuade Assad to step down.

Kofi Annan, who is acting as the UN and Arab League’s special envoy for Syria, arrived in Moscow on Monday.  He will meet with Mr. Lavrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.  Mr. Annan is expected to urge Russia to put more pressure on Syria’s leaders to begin a political transition.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon will meet with Chinese leaders in Beijing next week.  Like Russia, China has also vetoed several Western-backed UN draft resolutions.  Friday is the deadline for the end of the UN observer mission’s mandate will expire.

For further information, please see:

Al Bawaba — Clashes in Damascus as Over 100 Dead Across Syria — 16 July 2012

Al Jazeera — Violence Rages in the Syrian Capital — 16 July 2012

BBC News — Syria Unrest: Second day of Fierce Damascus Clashes — 16 July 2012

The Guardian — Syria: Fierce Fighting in Damascus — 16 July 2012

Syrian Revolution Digest – Sunday 15 July 2012

THE COMMENTARY IN THIS PIECE DOES NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF IMPUNITY WATCH.  

*WARNING VIDEOS MAY CONTAIN GRAPHIC IMAGES*

No Mincing Words: It’s Ethnic Cleansing!

It’s a massacre. No, it’s a firefight. They used helicopter gunships. No, they didn’t… But the real story is simple and the patterns are clear: it’s ethnic cleansing and it’s taking place over a wide swath of territory in central Syria. Tanks, heavy artillery and helicopter gunships are being used, while the intended victims have only light weapons and limited munitions at their disposal as they try to resist. But for those who still doubt that it’s all about ethnic cleansing. Perhaps this report and the attached map produced by BBC mapping the major instances of violence since the beginning of the Revolution can help change their perspective. Even the Arab League chief now agrees that ethnic cleansing is taking place in Syria.   

Sunday July 15, 2012

Today’s Death toll:  81. The Breakdown: 18 in Damascus, 16 in Homs, 15 in Deir Ezzor, 10 in Aleppo, 7 in Idilb, 5 in Daraa, 3 in Hama, 3 IN Hassakeh, 1 in Suweida and 1 in Quneitrah.

News

New Account of Syria Killings New evidence on last week’s killings in a village in central Syria suggests the bloodshed followed a raid by government forces to arrest male rebels, rather than a deliberate massacre of around 200 civilians as some Syrian opposition leaders and their Western allies first reported.

Syrian townspeople describe government shelling Residents of Treimseh tell U.N. investigators that their town was shelled and suspected rebels were apparently executed, contradicting the official account.

Syria crisis: What happened in Tremseh? • UN: evidence points to battle between fighters and troops • Locals: Troops “shot at anything moving” • Government: No heavy weaponry was used • Red Cross: This is now a civil war

Op-Eds & Special Reports

Comment: If anyone still doubts that ethnic cleansing is taking place in Syria, check out this report by BBC and the map included showing patterns of the major incidents that took place since the beginning of the revolution: Syria: The violence mapped

If people are fighting back to defend themselves, then it’s a firefight not a massacre and the victims will have brought it upon themselves by bringing light weapons to a showdown featuring tanks, heavy artillery and helicopter gunships.

If people fight back, then it’s a civil war. But if they don’t fight back, then they will likely be killed, in which case they can have the world’s sympathy and retain the moral high ground.

I say: the moral high ground be damned! Fight back.

Video Highlights

Rastan, Homs Province: A family is trapped under the rubble of their home, 5 children diehttp://youtu.be/m78zBTkMGCM Meanwhile, another member of the Tlass family, Bashar Tlass, a major from the 4th Division, announces his defectionhttp://youtu.be/nzKavZZoMno But the pounding continues http://youtu.be/jGzieIdYVsE ,http://youtu.be/5zkOH5V1l_8 From the sky http://youtu.be/nWC8Wp3lXV8

Salqeen, Idlib Province: local resistance use a car bomb to blow up a checkpoint from which tanks keep pounding their town http://youtu.be/Cz1RqZrQXw8 Elsewhere in town, the resistance destroy a tank and clash with loyalist militias http://youtu.be/zyGrxrsdC3gThe resistance patrol the streets of the city http://youtu.be/L6bq-1io1Ns Rescuing woundedhttp://youtu.be/KT30YI-9va4 But other parts of town still come until sporadic poundinghttp://youtu.be/uvE1NszSO2o

Tanks laying siege to Treimseh, Hama, as UN monitors pay another visithttp://youtu.be/QMrCFPPDgEc

Old Homs: some snipers are revolutionaries, and their targets are pro-Assad troops patrolling the relics that used to be their neighborhoods http://youtu.be/nI1nnKrmVXI It’s this kind of incidents that make the situation in Syria a civil war, and that calls for launching a major peacekeeping operation.

A video from the battle in Damascus City: Tadamon http://youtu.be/487RhQnasakShortly after, the battle intensifies as the tanks move in an the suburb is poundedhttp://youtu.be/mmzLtSxKOI0 The pounding leaves several buildings on firehttp://youtu.be/walLOGqB9pQ Black smoke could be seen rising above the neighborhood from downtown Damascus http://youtu.be/miCSnMD9PdY , http://youtu.be/7qv9l8oFRKY

People in nearby Daf Al-Shawk come under fire when they rally in support of Tadamonhttp://youtu.be/xezUEzpF-1g Clashes last until the evening http://youtu.be/T_rAqFyMLr0In Qadam, locals clash with pro-Assad militias and burn tires in the streetshttp://youtu.be/zrly3k0ReI0  Locals in nearby Yarmouk Camp close their shops and hurry home in panic that the pounding might touch their neighborhood as wellhttp://youtu.be/vLYX6mTqxjA Tanks patrol the nearby suburb of Saqbahttp://youtu.be/KYFg6_Xd600

In Khalid Bin Al-Walid Street in downtown Damascus, young activists interrupted traffic by burning tires in protest of the poudnding of Tadamonhttp://youtu.be/SpVVyRNXxo4

In Marei, Aleppo, local resistance tests an anti-aircraft battery that they managed to acquire after a raid on a local checkpoint http://youtu.be/alsyJh3iF6s Similar batteries are often used to pound the city. In fact, the city came under such pounding todayhttp://youtu.be/Ev8pUjI8YQM

Elsewhere in Aleppo Province, the local resistance takes control of a loyalist positionhttp://youtu.be/XhjkcGWd-rc The clashes http://youtu.be/NAcCL_ou1M0 Firing at the checkpoint from nearby buildings http://youtu.be/MXy4hWVvPIU ,http://youtu.be/WEOUTmBwpPE

The pounding of Al-Akrad Mountain region in Lattakia Province, continues: Al-Ghanimah http://youtu.be/GkmWc7GCAeg

The pounding of Al-Qusayr, Homs Province, continues http://youtu.be/dguAvzB50a0 The pounding of Talbisseh continues http://youtu.be/gA-pdQDGM78

The pounding of Old Homs continues: Jobar http://youtu.be/ADhflshrtKw Jouret Al-Shayah http://youtu.be/YtnO-cV06Tc

Daraa City continues to come under sporadic pounding http://youtu.be/SJ_gaVKuXLw ,http://youtu.be/GtjkjpAB_zM

Elsewhere in Daraa Province, members of local resistance are training themselveshttp://youtu.be/XhjkcGWd-rc In Al-Jizeh, the local resistance clash with pro-Assad militias http://youtu.be/2dpayXNnAm8

In Deir Ezzor City, the pounding is beginning to resemble what is taking place in Old Homs: Al-Oummal http://youtu.be/6_15BOSEypI , http://youtu.be/MzbYgdTX5os ,http://youtu.be/93pI3dEdlVU Rasafeh http://youtu.be/wXD78oQUxtY Tanks patrol and pound their way into neighborhoods http://youtu.be/1CYfuVbmBvg

In Arba’een Neighborhood, Hama City: pro-Assad militias patrolling the neighborhoodhttp://youtu.be/ut4YG60AwH0 But soon the tanks is targeted by local resistancehttp://youtu.be/MZX0ShmZpOU

Graffiti Activist, Muhammad Jameel Rahmah, Killed for Work Criticizing Assad

Jameel was born in 1995 in Al-Qaboun neighbourhood in Damascus. He lived in an ancient small Arabic house facing the neighborhood’s water tank.

Activist Jameel works on one of his slogans in the streets of Damascus. (Photo Courtesy of Syrian Network for Human Rights)

Jameel was the breadwinner for his family, including his mother and three younger sisters.  His father passed away in 2010, so Jameel was forced to work to meet the needs of his family.

Just like many free Syrians, Jameel called for freedom, justice and dignity.  He participated in all the demonstrations in the Al-Qaboun neighborhood in Damascus.  He contributed to the revolution by writing sings and banners that condemned despotism, injustice, corruption, and the fact that the wealthy of the country steal from the poor.  He left his job to focus solely on his activism; fully dedicating his time, efforts and strength to the revolution against injustice and aggression.

Having investigated and detected Jameel’s activities and contributions to the revolution, particularly within the media, Syrian Air Force Intelligence detained him on 22 July 2011.  He was detained for a total of 115 days.  Upon his release, he told of his experiences, including the different types and methods of torture he was subjected to at Air Force Intelligence detention facilities.   This included electricity shocks and tying him to a car tire.  There was also psychological torture such as leaving him in isolation for long periods of time, public humiliation, and denial of food and water.

Despite the varying means of torture used on him, Jameel’s activist spirit was not quelled.  He returned to doing his graffiti with even more energy and vigor than before.  His main mission, for which he was killed for, was spraying the walls of the neighborhood with graffiti that called for justice, freedom and the toppling of the regime of dictatorship and slavery.  He was clearly seen as a threat to Assad’s intelligence agencies because of his inflammatory artwork decorating walls all across the Damascus’ neighborhoods.

This video shows Jameel, writing one of his slogans.  These include phrases like: “Freedom forever whether you like it or not, Assad;” “Bashar, You Are Going to Be Ousted;” and “Syria is Free.”

On the morning of 6 July 2012, while Jameel was writing anti-regime graffiti, calling for the downfall of Assad and bringing freedom for Syria, he was killed by a gunshot from Assad’s security forces.  He died carrying the sprayer he used to call for freedom.

The body of Jameel is readied for burial and transport to the mosque.

Information and videos contained in the report provided by:

Syrian Network for Human Rights

Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies in Syria

Syrian Revolution Digest – Saturday 14 July 2012

THE COMMENTARY IN THIS PIECE DOES NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF IMPUNITY WATCH.  

*WARNING VIDEOS MAY CONTAIN GRAPHIC IMAGES*

Anything Goes!

 

You can dream up all sorts of legal niceties, such as the Responsibility to Protect and establish all sorts of promising bureaucracies, such as a genocide prevention office, but that means absolutely nothing if you are not willing to act. The true measure of goodness is the commitment to action not words and hollow institutions.  

 

Saturday July 14, 2012

 

Today’s Death toll: 88. The Breakdown: 20 in Homs, 24 in Damascus (22 in the Suburbs, and 2 in the City), 13 in Hama (including 5 who died in the car bombing in Mhardeh and 3 who died in the car bombing in Al-Karameh neighborhood in Hama City), 13 in Idlib, 12 in Deir Ezzor and 1 in Daraa.

 

Activists from Aleppo report that heavy gunfire was heard coming out of the Central Prison as rumors of an overnight riot broke.

 

News

 

Syria: Tremseh killings targeted rebels, UN says The government attack on the Syrian village of Tremseh mainly targeted the homes of rebels and activists, the UN mission in the country has said.

 

(Reuters) – The Red Cross now views fighting in Syria as an internal armed conflict – a civil war in layman’s terms – crossing a threshold experts say can help lay the ground for future prosecutions for war crimes.

 

Syria massacre: Assad’s forces ‘shot anything moving’ The small town of Tremseh has suffered what may be the single worst atrocity of the Syrian uprising, say eyewitnesses

 

Turkey PM calls Syria massacres attempted ‘genocide’ Recep Tayyip Erdogan warns Assad regime that the Syrian people will ‘make them pay’ for violence.

 

Op-Eds & Special Reports

 

 

 

 

Can It Get Worse in Syria? It Just Did The Tremseh massacre and the movement of chemical weapons show that the Syrian regime is on an increasingly deadly path and will not be diverted by negotiations. The situation is becoming rapidly worse, and diplomatic efforts to end the fighting will continue to fail. UN envoy Kofi Annan’s efforts are increasingly out of touch with realities on the ground, giving the regime a fig leaf of legitimacy and time in which to break the opposition. In short, this is a dangerous regime — dangerous to its people and, as the CW movement suggests, dangerous to the region. The time for talking with Bashar al-Assad has passed. It is time for ultimatums — and, if those fail, armed action to topple the regime.

 

Video Highlights

 

Palestinians from the Yarmouk Camp in Damascus City hold a major funeral for yesterday’s martyrs during which they remove all posters of hafiz Al-Assad and chant in support of protest hubs and occasionally shouting “we want our revenge from Bashar and Jibril” – Ahmad Jibril is the pro-Assad leader of a break-away faction of the PLA based in Damascus http://youtu.be/5DTr8Vx7oOE Destroying a large poster of Assad Sr.http://youtu.be/dk4XXEhy-aw Another HD view of the rally http://youtu.be/FE389PVQx1o

 

The growing tensions in Damascus City are underscored by the presence of patrols by pro-Assad militias using tanks and army vehicles in the streets of the city including near Abbasid Square http://youtu.be/RVKKFbhXLkg

 

Indeed to the East, the pounding of the suburbs of Arbeen and Douma, among other restive communities in Eastern Ghoutah continues: Arbeen:http://youtu.be/9e5BprrOokY Douma http://youtu.be/0vrLUBmBDV0 In Harasta, pro-Assad militias stormed the suburb and looted shops http://youtu.be/F5qrmNxFpW8 The injured and dead of Douma http://youtu.be/f5myldp2aYg , http://youtu.be/oUrZ-04QGmI

 

More high level defections take place in Rastan, Homs Provincehttp://youtu.be/1FfNvkJHc7U Other high level defections took place in nearby Talbissehhttp://youtu.be/5bAZF7538U4 High level Defections take place in Khan Shaikhoon in Idlib Province as well http://youtu.be/I77vNAdjfBA

 

But the pounding of Rastan continues http://youtu.be/chTFvGa9hZg ,http://youtu.be/Ykh3Rh-4ajY

 

And the pounding of Old Homs continues: Qarabis http://youtu.be/ftthk4rkbjo ,http://youtu.be/YHF65mJhMoQ , http://youtu.be/SM9ZmYn7OXA Khaldiyehhttp://youtu.be/1C9OJ39DVJA 800 families are still trapped in Old Homs under complete siege, living hand to mouth.

 

Units affiliated with the Free Syria Army continue to take prisoners from pro-Assad troops, including high level ones (a Druze and an Alawite) http://youtu.be/5bg4mKGYyu4and low-ranking troops who serve as cannon fodder, mostly Sunnishttp://youtu.be/TkCeCpgfmrs

 

The situation in Deir Ezzor City

 

Leaked Video One of the heavy artillery positions taking part in the pounding of Deir Ezzor City http://youtu.be/PIHyDbZKw-8

 

A child pulled from underneath the rubble in Deir Ezzor Cityhttp://youtu.be/7VtzHUvJT0Q His brother was not so lucky http://youtu.be/iey7tJRgmSAIndeed, five children from Al-Kharouf family were killed today.

 

Looking for bodies in the rubble of bombed out buildings in Jbeileh Neighborhood – a hazardous task considering that the pounding continues http://youtu.be/_4itYIlHZuw ,http://youtu.be/3FEDJwuy8As

 

FRIDAY, JULY 13, 2012

 

Outrage & Impotence!

 

Outrage will not spur the international community into action. What we really need is some in-rage.

 

Friday July 13, 2012 – The beginning of a week dedicated to “Toppling Annan – the Servant of Assad and Iran.”

 

Today’s Death toll:   80. The Breakdown: 28 in Idlib,14 in Homs, 13 in Damascus City (in the Palestinian Refugee Camp of Yarmouke), 12 in Aleppo, 5 in Daraa, 3 in Deir Ezzor, 2 in Damascus Suburbs, 2 in Hama, and 1 in Lattakia.

 

Syrian witnessed 738 rallies all across the country today: 140 in Hama, 138 in Aleppo and 170 in Damascus City and Suburbs.

 

News

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the wake of the reported killings in Treimseh, “the immediate popular reaction at this stage is anger towards all,” wrote Ammar Abdulhamid, a Syrian opposition activist based in the U.S. “The impotence of the opposition and continued dithering by international leaders seem unfathomable to locals after so many months of bloodshed, and so many massacres. Who can blame them?” (More Quotes in The Weekly Standard).

 

 

 

 

Op-Eds & Special Reports

 

 

Will Syria’s Conflict Spill Over into War-Weary Iraq? As the violence in Syria spirals into an increasingly bloody maelstrom, Iraq’s Foreign Minister voices his country’s fears that the chaos is spilling across the border—and that Baghdad won’t be able to contain it.

 

Messages from the Syrian war zone: what life is really like in Homs Late last year, on a bus to Homs, the city at the centre of the Syrian uprising, British journalist James Harkin struck up a friendship with local boy Mohammed. These are the messages he has sent from his home in the war zone

 

 

US manipulation of news from Syria is a red herring The big picture is clear. A slaughter is under way in Syria, largely carried out by government forces and militias

 

Moving assets or preparing for mass genocide?

 

There are two ways for filtering the reports on Assad’s decision to move WMDs from Damascus to Homs. One, he is preparing for their deployment in his intensifying ethnic cleansing campaign against the Sunni population in Central Syria (Homs, Hama and Idlib), and two, he is merely moving his most prized assets from areas in which he is quickly losing control to the Alawite enclave he is busy creating. The two options are not mutually exclusive of course. There is nothing to prevent Assad from doing both.

 

 

Comment: Syria will never close its doors in the face of Palestinians. The revolutionaries understand the dilemma in which the Palestinians of Syria find themselves, a dilemma that did not stop so many of them from joining the ranks of the revolution or indirectly providing aid and support to the protesters. As far as the protesters are concerned, the Palestinians of Syria are no less Syrian than any National ID carrying citizen. Once transition to a new democratic order is accomplished, should the Palestinians of Syria ever want to become full-fledged citizens in the legal sense as well,  I have no doubt that the majority of Syrians will support this.

 

Meanwhile, the Palestinians in the refugee camp of Yarmouke in Damascus City today showed exactly where their sympathies lie when they demonstrated in support of the people of Treimseh and were fired on by pro-Assad militias, leaving 13 people dead:http://youtu.be/2412UcMz8ks , http://youtu.be/8SrBiXdECSw a child among the martyrs, hit with a bullet to the head http://youtu.be/8HdKgtaOFPU

 

What Rebels Want!

 

 

There are major problems with this Time article beginning from the title, which contradicts with everything that resistance leaders on the ground are saying – Intel will be useful of course, but it will mean absolutely nothing if we did not have enough arms, – going into the misconception that the Free Syrian Army “hired Brian Sayers to represent their interests in Washington,” which is simply not true and Mr. Sayers himself will be the first to say so (or at least I hope so), and ending up with misconstruing Mr. Sayers’ assertion that rebels need intelligence and not only weapons.

 

This is what Mr. Sayers actually said:

 

“Everyone says, just give them a bunch of weapons. Well, rocket propelled grenades are fine but ultimately what they need is intelligence support in order to bring down the regime,” says Sayers, “because ultimately the regime has more sophisticated weaponry.

 

Very true! We need more than just arming the rebels, we need a more coherent strategy in which arming the rebels is only one element as we have argued in our own Six Points Plan, and as I argue here.

 

Some say that’s not nearly enough. “If the U.S. is only going to be a facilitator of arms flows into the country, that’s not enough to be stabilize things, to end the violence,” says Ammar Abdulhamid, a Syrian dissident who has been in exile in Washington since 2005. “In fact, it only makes things worse.” Adbulhamid wants Washington and NATO to impose a no-fly zone as they did over Libya and Iraq.

 

Intel sharing, and Mr. Sayers argues the case pretty well, will be not be enough if the move was not coupled with more serious support, including weapons. After all, if the purpose is to “level the playing field,” as Mr. Sayers argues, then, you have to bear in mind that Russia and Iran are not only providing the regime with Intel, they are also providing it with weapons.

 

The allusion in the article that the “FSA is getting plenty of arms and cash from the Qatari, Saudi Arabian and, to a lesser extent, the Emirati governments” is inaccurate at best. Weapons supplies to the local resistance remain pretty limited, and no way near meeting the demands of the local resistance.

 

This Reuters report, “Syria rebels get light arms, heavy weapons elusive,” explains things much more clearly:

 

Syrian rebels are smuggling small arms into Syria through a network of land and sea routes involving cargo ships and trucks moving through Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq, maritime intelligence and Free Syrian Army (FSA) officers say. Western and regional powers deny any suggestion they are involved in gun running. Their interest in the sensitive border region lies rather in screening to ensure powerful weapons such as surface to air missiles do not find their way to Islamist or other militants.

 

FSA fighters say munitions supply chains remain tenuous. In one clash last week, rebel fighters say they ran out of ammunition which forced them to retreat from one of their strongholds in the northern Idlib province.

 

The steady trickle of relatively unsophisticated arms making its way to forces opposing President Bashar al-Assad is being financed mainly by wealthy individuals in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, a se c urity source said, as well as from expatriate Syrian supporters. It complements supplies captured from the Syrian army or brought by defectors.

 

But the main problem with the Time’s article is thinking that Mr. Sayers speak for the FSA, and that his advice is synonymous with rebel demands. That’s not true. Mr. Sayers represent a lobby formed recently by Syrian-Americans and tasked with supporting the FSA, not representing the FSA. Most FSA leaders are not yet aware of the existence of the group nor of Ms. Sayers.

 

Mr. Sayers approach is sound. Indeed, there is nothing wrong with demanding the possible, while others, like me, push for what seems impossible. But his approach represents a support strategy and does not represent the official point of view of the FSA, whose leaders still demand a no-fly zone, as one of their most prominent representatives, Khalid Abou Salah, argued recently in the Friends of Syria Conference in Paris.

 

The reason why so many of us still call for a more integrated strategy for intervention that goes beyond sending weapons and sharing Intel but calls for air-strikes and deployment peacekeepers is simple: we are not just concerned with toppling the regime, we want to create a stable democratic state that respects the rights and ensures the security of all Syrians. A policy of arming without mitigation does not just risk putting weapons in the wrong hands, it forgets that often the right hands become wrong once you put weapons in them.

 

Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration are never easy. Considering the regional, ethnic and religious diversity in Syria, and bearing in mind the current violence and fragmentation and growing popular frustration and anger, DDR will indeed be a nightmare. I think that a strategy in which air strikes are used to target positions of heavy artillery and roving tank columns and to ground Assad’s helicopter gunships and jets will create a situation in which light weapons are more than enough to help local resistance groups secure their areas. In fact, this is exactly what happened before Assad deployed his tanks, artillery and air force. In this scenario, which also calls for rapid deployment of peacekeepers to critical areas, the risks for empowering the wrong groups and for carrying out revenge killings are substantially minimized.

 

Video Highlights  

 

Treimseh, Hama: the destruction wrought by shelling http://youtu.be/6EGR9xZDxWwThe funeral procession for yesterday’s martyrs begins at the mosquehttp://youtu.be/rWwG8fW8Lbk The man has his throat slit http://youtu.be/_w_k–lM2aoAnother martyr was a local doctor who was killed as he treated the woundedhttp://youtu.be/Pq3ZWUBXGjY The martyrs http://youtu.be/vHXDI2l62fA ,http://youtu.be/NR1ZkKHbw1I The burial of 40 people http://youtu.be/bkrBQc-FAVA The tanks that took part in pounding the city on July 12 http://youtu.be/btDPbh5kr2M ,http://youtu.be/btDPbh5kr2M

 

Al-Rami, Jabal Al-Zawiyeh, Idlib Province: today’s shelling leaves a number of martyrs http://youtu.be/V778oYMufrc , http://youtu.be/Y6yelOJUN6E ,http://youtu.be/vQWu7bQHE48 The wounded http://youtu.be/_hZiV1smvNg Meanwhile, helicopter gunships continue their pounding of the mountainous regionhttp://youtu.be/FqA0PTh-fxI

 

Hraak, Daraa: rescuing the wounded after a local rally came under firehttp://youtu.be/fmM3Qmiviec

 

Taybah, Daraa: the town is pounded by helicopter gunship http://youtu.be/cGdzZS43MfkSo is nearby Jizeh http://youtu.be/RlkYxNTHm34 Children among the woundedhttp://youtu.be/zKW_GyfAnCg

 

Houla, Homs: the pounding and continues killing adults and childrenhttp://youtu.be/88uOzQGYh0I , http://youtu.be/PmgYnRUNlvE The continuing pounding sets the local crops on fire http://youtu.be/xnjhWpaOk0I And the pounding never stopshttp://youtu.be/WA1DLRFKUtc

 

Rastan, Homs: the daily pounding continues http://youtu.be/e4bQWbjd1Rk

 

Homs City: the pounding of Old Homs continues: Khaldiyehhttp://youtu.be/W9vcakYwpPY Jouret Al-Shayah http://youtu.be/_J6nA1Y2DU0 ,http://youtu.be/KyWfgrneFv4 , http://youtu.be/wJnP5mgveks Qarabishttp://youtu.be/DnUzYgKKU78

 

Eizaz. Aleppo Province: a tank column tries to storm into the cityhttp://youtu.be/Tzy_T0CQoAE , http://youtu.be/umB6rDY8XLc

 

This new defection by an air force pilot was inspired by the defection of the Syrian Ambassador in Iraq http://youtu.be/1TyyJIqNagY

 

Syrian Revolution Digest – Thursday 12 July 2012

THE COMMENTARY IN THIS PIECE DOES NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF IMPUNITY WATCH.  

*WARNING VIDEOS MAY CONTAIN GRAPHIC IMAGES*

Another Opportunity To Miss An Opportunity?

Judging by previous reactions, the new massacre at Treimseh will only serve to provide international leaders with another opportunity to do nothing, except to underscore the meaninglessness of existing international order, and such lofty ideals and promises as the Responsibility to Protect.

Thursday July 12, 2012

Today’s Death toll:  287. The Breakdown: 247 in Treimseh (Hama Province), 22 in Homs, 23 in Damascus (12 in Damascus City: 8 in Barzeh, 3 in Jobar, and 1 in Al-Hajar Al-Aswad; 11 in Damascus Suburbs: Sayida Zeinab, Yalda, Zamalka, Daraya), 7 in Daraa, 6 in Deir Ezzor, 56 in Idlib, 3 in Aleppo, 1 in Hassakeh.

6 officers defect in the coastal city of Tartous, including three Alawites. Meanwhile, local resistance claim to have mounted a surprise attack on the Russian naval base in the city: no major damage was reported but one of the assailants was said to have been martyred. If true, the operation is the first of its kind. Be that as it may, not all is quiet on the coastal front.

News

Massacre Reported in Syria as Security Council Meets Syrian opposition activists said nearly 200 people were killed in a Sunni village on Thursday by government forces using tanks and helicopters… Antigovernment activists also posted videos online claiming that Syrian forces had added unguided cluster bombs, an indiscriminate weapon designed to maximize damage and casualties, to their arsenal of attack helicopters, artillery and tanks… “These videos show identifiable cluster bombs and submunitions,” said Steve Goose, the arms division director at Human Rights Watch in a statement. “If confirmed, this would be the first documented use of these highly dangerous weapons by the Syrian armed forces during the conflict.”

Syrian army accused of attacking hundreds In what may be the worst single incident of violence in 16 months of conflict in Syria, more than 200 people are reported dead. Due to restrictions on journalists within the country, the reports cannot be verified. People in the region say they’re ‘terrified.’

Evidence exists to bring Syria war-crimes case: French diplomat France’s top human rights diplomat says ‘the raw material is there’ in the Syria conflict to refer case to the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

Sunni ‘cannon fodder’ abandon Syria’s Alawite-led military Opposition groups say increasing number of foot soldiers defecting to Turkey

Deserter Manaf Tlas ‘in touch with opposition’ Manaf Tlas, a Syrian general who fled the country last week, has been in contact with members of the opposition, France’s foreign minister has said.

Syrian regime must be ousted, says diplomat defector Nawaf al-Fares Former envoy to Iraq dismisses peace plan and calls for violent removal of president Bashar al-Assad.

Op-Eds & Special Reports

To Topple Assad, Unleash the CIA Turkey and even Iraq’s Kurds would help Syria’s rebels if the U.S. showed it is serious.

Is the Syrian Regime Using Rape as a Tactic of War? Reports suggest troops loyal to the embattled government of Syrian President Bashar Assad are carrying out a systematic campaign of rape.

The influential Syrian general who could bear Assad no more The Tlass family were once acolytes of the Assad dynasty, but as the regime crackdown targeted their fellow Sunni clansmen, they hatched a plan to flee to Paris.

Syrian ambassador’s defection boosts idea of booting Assad, keeping others The defection of two top Syrian officials, including the ambassador to Iraq, is prompting foreign policy experts to explore the idea of removing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but keeping lower level.

In Syria: Why is Turkey reluctant to take the lead? Turks hope that peace between the two countries can be restored. But Syrian refugees hope Turkey will take a more aggressive stance.

Al-Treimseh Massacre – Hama Province:

Pro-Assad militias laid siege to the town at 5 am local time, cutting off power and communications. Then intensive shelling took place for two hours followed by a more sporadic bombardment as pro-Assad militias reportedly stormed certain neighborhoods, burned down houses after killing their occupants, then pursued those who escaped into the nearby fields where some were executed on the spot. Entire families were slaughtered. Many of the dead families were already refugees from the nearby village of Khneizeer. Local resistance was poorly armed and was unable to push back the invading pro-Assad militias. The massacre seems sectarian in character.

Treimseh lies in the middle of Sahel Al-Ghab region, the farmlands that have been reclaimed from swamps over the last few decades and where Sunni and Alawite villages lie adjacent to each other. Pro-Assad militias, composed of mostly Alawite villagers with some support from Alawite recruits from the Alawite heartland in the mountainous regions along the coast, and few Sunni recruits, have been carrying out an ethnic cleansing campaign against the local Sunni population for months now.

Syrian TV claimed that security forces clashed with the terrorists responsible for the massacre and that they have managed to arrest some of the perpetrators. Local activists say the security forces were in league with perpetrators and provided cover through the use of heavy artillery, just as they did in Houla.

The immediate popular reaction at this stage is anger towards all: the regime, its loyalists, the silent segments of the population, Russia, China, Iran Hezbollah, the Shia, the Alawites, the Americans, and other western powers, the opposition, especially the Syrian National Council and its executive office whose members were faulted and dismissed for visiting Russia. In short: everyone. The impotence of the opposition and continued dithering by international leaders seem unfathomable to locals after so many months of bloodshed, and so many massacres. Who can blame them?

Video Highlights

On the morning of July 12, 2012, tanks lay siege to the town and begin pounding the neighborhoods http://youtu.be/uXoequ1b9mM And the dying beginshttp://youtu.be/_e0QbpT50_g

Benefitting from a brief lull in the pounding, the inhabitants stream into the nearby fields, where many were caught and killed http://youtu.be/fE40EnObg4k

On January 25, 2012, pro-Assad carried out a raid against Treimseh and looted the houses of the locals. On their way out, they were greeted and cheered on by Alawite inhabitants of nearby villages. Now, some pro-Assad websites are trying to circulate this YouTube claiming that the Treimseh people were punished by rebels because they cheered Assad’s troopshttp://youtu.be/u32zRFzspLM But this is what the people of Treimseh were doing before the raid: rallying against Assad http://youtu.be/QBJ1w6nIMZw And this is what pro-Assad militias did to Treimseh four days after the raid http://youtu.be/lwNdaSZF46A Much like Houla, Treimseh has been under siege since. The people of Treimseh joined the revolution ever since July 5, 2011 as this clip with them taking their revolutionary vows showshttp://youtu.be/QOxv11S3-Pc

Treimseh was not the only Hama town to be attacked: Hayaleen was pounded was wellhttp://youtu.be/zihTz90rk0Q a child was injured http://youtu.be/E5g0e2KTDWk Karnazwas intensely targeted http://youtu.be/rOSqYVfdM1Q The village of Jlimeh was also pounded with helicopter gunships http://youtu.be/9GhA7akMgEI

The Damascene Neighborhood of Barzeh was pounded today in new escalation. The pounding left 8 dead and scores wounded http://youtu.be/T2yTgni8vuI ,http://youtu.be/pPOwjMv9wCE The nearby neighborhood of Kafar Sousseh was also pounded http://youtu.be/f6uNhgq0c38 , http://youtu.be/6AqGQvlxtLM A chopper overflew the neighborhood earlier http://youtu.be/M8nF6mw_t3E the nearby neighborhood ofDaraya is also pounded from the direction of the Military Airport of Mazzehhttp://youtu.be/nyzwDPtUNYg

In Homs Province, the pounding of Houla continues http://youtu.be/12e3i-u-bCE ,http://youtu.be/nacUKqiIa_8 , http://youtu.be/qJG1pjU-xl0 Talbisseh was also poundedhttp://youtu.be/YMqRyOX2Cyw , http://youtu.be/47K2nwBm3so Rastan was poundedhttp://youtu.be/TSmGY8Pt2yI , http://youtu.be/EFm3FqoNQyM ,http://youtu.be/v37h2mZypXc , http://youtu.be/0gFUyUpZemI The artillery positions taking part in the pounding http://youtu.be/QP7T97IdAy8 A helicopter gunship takes part in the pounding http://youtu.be/qLvFBsJsKSw

The pounding of Tal Rif’aat in Aleppo leaves many dead when they were trapped under the rubble of collapsed homes http://youtu.be/GAj0mwZjMag Mnay neighboring communities were also pounded, including Anadan where nighttime shelling leaves many homes on firehttp://youtu.be/l-AwcA-XKzc Local resistance groups around the town of Anadan manage to destroy a tank an take its occupants prisoner http://youtu.be/9Y0xxWlYWVQ

In Lattakia Province, Hiffeh District, the pounding of the last Sunni strongholds continues:Salma http://youtu.be/0E_i76ev11Q and the pounding continues into the nighthttp://youtu.be/AYzNz77FuQU

The pounding of Deir Ezzor City continues: Jourah http://youtu.be/t5s4HmZR7qo Takayahttp://youtu.be/NppHZADVjwY

In Idlib Province, the village of Al-Rami near the Turkish border continues to be poundedhttp://youtu.be/byNOsHli-IU , http://youtu.be/55mN75JAdHo