Syrian Revolution Digest: Sunday, 6 January 2013

The Finitiative!

Syrian Revolution Digest – January 6, 2013 

Whether it takes a week, a month, a year or a decade, it does not matter, Assad’s latest initiative is his final political act. By appearing so out-of-touch with reality, Assad has shown that he is not in control of his own regime. He, in fact, is the puppet, his bubble long burst. The question, therefore, is: who’s really running the show at this stage? And what do they want?

Today’s Death Toll: 101 (including 2 children and 10 women)

28 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its Suburbs, 22 in Aleppo, 14 in Daraa, 13 in Homs (most of them in Tasneen), 10 in Hama, 10 in Deir Ezzor, 3 in Idlib and 1 in Lattakia (LCCs).

Points of Random Shelling: 294

7 points were shelled with warplanes, 2 points with cluster bombs, 122 points with mortars, 111 points with artillery and 51 points with missile shelling (LCCs).

Clashes: The Free Syrian Army clashed with the regime’s army at 150 points where they managed to block the regime forces’ attempt to storm Bustan neighborhood in Aleppo (with the defection of several personnel from the Police Academy). They also gained control of the Soldier’s Hotel in Khan Al-Assal and shelled Jarah Military Airport in Maskana in Aleppo. In Deir Ezzor the FSA surround the Political Security branch and dismantled several military machines and in Damascus Suburbs they blocked an attempt by regime’s army to storm Eastern Ghota, through Hteitet Al-Turkman road, and destroyed more than 15 military vehicles and 4 tanks. In Hama, they seized a lot of ammunition and a food unit on the agricultural road connecting between Soqailbiya and Tal Burhan. Also, they destroyed several military vehicles and captured several regime army personnel throughout Syria(LCCs).

Reports from local activists confirm that the son of the newly appointed Minister of Defense, Rustom Ghazali, one of the few Syrian officials accused in plotting the assassination of former Lebanese PM, Rafic Al-Hariri, has been kidnapped by rebels from his hometown in Khirbet al-Ghazali. This development led to increase in the intensity of clashes in the area, and throughout the Daraa Province. Authorities used loudspeakers threatening local of dire consequences should the Minister’s not be returned unharmed. Ghazali had only days ago replaced Mohammad Al-Shaar as Minister of Defense. Minister Al-Shaar had been injured in a rebel attack, received treatment in Beirut then returned to Syria where he disappeared from public view amidst increasing reports that he passed away.

 

News

Syria’s Assad rejects dialogue with “puppet” opposition Syrian President Bashar al-Assad announced what he described as a peace plan on Sunday, calling for a reconciliation conference with “those who have not betrayed Syria”, to be followed by the formation of a new government and an amnesty. “The first stage of a political solution would require that regional powers stop funding and arming (the opposition), an end to terrorist operations and controlling the borders,” he said in a speech in central Damascus, his first public comments in months. “We will not have dialogue with a puppet made by the West,” he said.

Defiant Assad’s peace plan rejected by rebels In his first public speech in six months, Assad laid out terms for a peace plan that keeps himself in power, ignoring international demands to step down and pledging to continue the battle “as long as there is one terrorist left” in Syria.

Defiant Assad Says Syria ‘Accepts Advice but Not Orders’ he offered no new acknowledgment of the gains by the rebels fighting against him, the excesses of his government or the aspirations of the Syrian people. Mr. Assad also ruled out talks with the armed opposition and pointedly ignored its central demand that he step down, instead using much of a nearly hourlong speech to justify his harsh military crackdown… Mr. Assad’s speech was a disappointment for international mediators and many Syrians who say they believe that without a negotiated settlement, Syria’s conflict will descend into an even bloodier stage.

Syrian opposition dismiss Assad call for talks amid attack on ‘western puppets’Rebels say Syrian president offered no meaningful concessions in his first public speech in seven months.

Morsy backs Syrian calls for al-Assad to face war crimes trial “The Syrian people through their revolution and through the movement will — when the bloodshed stops — move to a new stage where they will have an independent parliament and a government of their choosing,” Morsy, Egypt’s first freely elected leader, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in Cairo. “And then they will decide what they want to do to those who committed crimes against them. It is the Syrian people who decide.”

Israel warily watches shifts across its frontier with Syria Trenches lined with coils of razor wire have been dug along the Israeli side of the Golan frontier, and a new 15-foot-high steel fence is under construction, with plans to extend it the length of the boundary with Syria. Surveillance of the Syrian side, aided by cameras, also is being stepped up… Replacing a lower electronic warning fence, the imposing new barrier, encased in rolls of barbed wire, is intended to serve as a bulwark against infiltrators.

 

Special Reports

As Bashar Assad Shows His Defiance, Syria Nears Its Existential Cliff
While there’s a common perception in Western capitals that the regime is on its last legs, there are plenty of signs on the ground that it remains very much intact—and very dangerous. Assad’s security forces have been forced to relinquish control of many rural areas and  have even ceded the impoverished peripheries of a number of Syrian cities, but it has escalated its attacks on areas under rebel control in recent months, deliberately imposing a heavier toll in humanitarian suffering. And rebels in many areas appear desperately short of funds and military resources, despite promises of expanded support from outside powers.

He wants to negotiate, but with whom, and over what?  
By appearing so out-of-touch with reality, Assad has shown that he is not in control of his own regime. He, in fact, is the puppet. The question, therefore, is: who’s really running the show at this stage? And what do they want?

Assad’s words provide few clues, but the subtext to his speech, the body language and apparent nervousness in delivery, his clear concern for how his speech will be viewed by his supporters as denoted by his repeated assertions that he is not giving up the fight against the “terrorists,” his dismissal of the external opposition coupled with his readiness to negotiate with their backers… all these things point to the presence of a radical camp inside the regime that seems to have taken charge of the day-to-day management of the crackdown, keeping Assad as a necessary window dressing.

What does this radical camp want? At this stage, and judging by developments on the ground, the only possible interpretation is that they want to buy enough time to draw the borders of their coveted enclave, while exacting revenge against the Sunni population all over the country through continued recourse to scorched earth policy.

In short, our descent into hell continues.

 

Video Highlights

Shortly after the speech delivered by Assad, clashes took place in several neighborhoods inDamascus City http://youtu.be/UvUNATTlasY , http://youtu.be/la_qMCdIlRM

Clashes in Deir Ezzor City intensified http://youtu.be/wyi8VPOugSY ,http://youtu.be/mPr0xxS2N5Y , http://youtu.be/S_GNs-OMBh0 , http://youtu.be/O5AtC3IY2tA

Intense clashes took place in the town of Basr Al-Harir, Daraa as wellhttp://youtu.be/f7jfaou4plI , http://youtu.be/hbGDSh9zhFs , http://youtu.be/dAxaNYkyVIc ,http://youtu.be/JYFZpf0JhB0 , http://youtu.be/uAsLA2aWE58

Rebels take control of a BMPhttp://youtu.be/Bo4KM2HmHuk

Intense clashes took place in several neighborhoods in Homs City as well http://youtu.be/XAinJ2fUE1o

Clashes took place around the Police Academy in Aleppo City as well http://youtu.be/yMI1JAmefyk

Leaked video documents the use of missile launchers in the pounding of restive cities by pro-Assad militias http://youtu.be/O-djiFPf_qs

But Assad’s fighter jets kept dropping barrel bombs on Kuweirus Airport where rebels are positioned http://youtu.be/TPFkWEVVpa0

Violence Erupts in Northern Ireland Over Union Jack Flag

By Alexandra Sandacz
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BELFAST, Northern Ireland – Belfast faced its fifth night of rioting following protests over the Belfast City Council’s decision to stop a century-old tradition of flying the Union Jack flag year-round. Instead, the City Council decided to limit the number of days the union flag flies over Belfast City Hall.

Loyalist set up barricades during the most recent violent riot in Belfast. (Photo Courtesy of the Irish Times)

Almost a thousand protesters picketed Belfast City Hall when the City Council met for the first time since passing the controversial motion in December. The protestors demanded that the council reverse its ruling over the flag.

The most recent protest began peacefully, however, the violent riot started when hundreds of protesters passed the Short Strand on their return to east Belfast. Multiple Nationalists threw numerous missiles as the protestors passed.

As a result, police fired plastic bullets and water cannons in an effort to separate republican and protestant groups. Loyalist protestors set up a barricade in the middle of the road and set it on fire. In addition, the police were also notified of two attempted hijackings in the area.

During the recent riot, two males and two females were arrested and accused of rioting and public order violations. Since the various protests began, 96 people were arrested, and at least 52 officers were hurt. Furthermore, since December, multiple elected representatives received death threats.

The Chief Constable for the Police Service of Northern Island believes the violence is at the fault of the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force members. The British flag has been the subject of a longstanding disagreement between British loyalists and Irish nationalists.

Chief Constable Matt Baggott said, “Everyone involved needs to step back. The lack of control is very worrying. The only answer is a political solution.”

Also, Baggott expressed concern over the number of children that have taken part in the riots. He stated that numerous children were “without parental control” and risked “blighting their own future”.

He states, “At a time when we are working desperately hard with the tourist board, investment agencies, foreign investors, to present the right picture of Northern Ireland as a place that’s worthy of investment, many of those young people who may benefit from that will now have convictions.”

Billy Hutchinson, leader of the Progressive Unionist Party, stated, “If this is the chief constable’s assessment, then what I am saying to people in east Belfast, people belonging to the UVF, please desist from being involved in violence.”

For further information, please see:

IrishTimes – Violence continues in Belfast as flags dispute shoes no sign of abating – 8 January 2013

The Independent – Fifth night of flag rioting hits Belfast – 8 January 2013

BBCNews – Belfast flag trouble: Plastic bullets fired at protestors – 7 January 2013

CNN – Police: Extremist group ‘orchestrating violence’ in Belfast over Union Jack – 7 January 2013

Syrian Opposition Rejects Assad’s Recent Peace Proposal

By Ali Al-Bassam
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria — Syrian and international opposition forces refused a peace plan proposed by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad during a speech he made last Sunday.

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s (center) peace proposal was rejected the next day by local opposition groups and the West. (Photo Courtesy of Reuters)

In his speech, Assad called for Western countries to desist from finding and arming rebels, and said that he would be willing to work with countries “who have not betrayed Syria.”  Originally billed as the unveiling of a new peace plan, Assad did not offer to make any compromises in establishing peace with his opposition, and also appeared to take a tougher stance on many of his positions.  In his speech, Assad called on Syrians to fight “a war to defend the nation,” and made it unlikely for any prospect of negotiations.  This was Assad’s first address to the nation since June.

“We do not reject political dialogue… but with whom should we hold a dialogue? With extremists who don’t believe in any language but killing and terrorism?,” asked Assad.

Assad’s foreign opposition was dismissive of his speech.

The U.S. State Department denounced Assad’s speech, calling it “detached from reality,” while Britain said the speech was “empty.”  The European Union maintained its position on Assad, calling for him “to step aside and allow for a political transition.”

State Department Spokeswoman Victorian Nuland said of the speech that it was “yet another attempt by the regime to cling to power and does nothing to advance the Syrian people’s goal of a political transition.”

Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi says that he endorses any decision which helps the Syrian people in putting Assad on trial in front of the International Criminal Court.

Assad’s opposition within Syria found the speech to prove that Assad is not willing to step down.

Louay Safi, member of the Syrian National Coalition Opposition Block, said that Assad’s speech was nothing more than “empty rhetoric.”  George Sabra, Vice President of the opposition National Coalition said that the speech itself did “not even deserve to be called an initiative… We should see it rather as a declaration that he will continue his war against the Syrian people.”  The National Coalition also noted that Assad refuses to hold a dialogue with rebels, making negotiations impossible.  The opposition claims that they will negotiate only if Assad offers to resign from the presidency.

Opposition groups are unwilling to compromise with Assad unless he offers to step-down.  Nevertheless, that is a move that Assad is not likely to make any time soon.

For further information, please see:

Al Arabiya — Syrian Opposition, West Reject Assad ‘Peace Plan’ — 7 January 2013

Al Jazeera — Syrian Opposition Rejects Assad’s Peace Plan — 7 January 2013

BBC News — Syria Crisis: US Decries Assad ‘Western Puppets’ Speech — 7 January 2013

Reuters — Assad Peace Plan Greeted with Scorn by Foes — 7 January 2013

Icelandic Girl Fights for Right to Use Name

By Madeline Schiesser
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

REYKJAVIK, Iceland – On all official documents, 15-year-old Blær Bjarkadóttir is identified only as stúlka, literally girl, because her name is not approved by Iceland’s Human Name Committee.  However, Blær has become the first person to challenge in court the Human Name Committee’s adverse decision in order to obtain the right to legally use her name.

Blær Bjarkadóttir and her mother, Björk Eiðsdóttir. (Photo Courtesy of AP and National Post)

Iceland, like Germany and Denmark, has an official “Personal Names Register,” which contains 1,853 approved names for women, and 1,712 approved names for men that confirm to grammar and pronunciation rules and are believed to protect children from embarrassment.  Parents may apply to the Human Name Committee for a special exception.

Blær’s name however, which means “light breeze,” was rejected by the Committee because it takes a masculine article, although it is an approved name for a man.

Björk Eiðsdóttir, Blær’s mother, had not realized Blær was not on the approved name list when she had her daughter christened, and it was only later that the priest informed her he had made a mistake by allowing the name.

Blær’s lack of a legal name has given her years of frustration, as she must explain the story of why she is officially called Stúlka when filling out forms or dealing with the country’s bureaucratic system.

“I had no idea that the name wasn’t on the list, the famous list of names that you can choose from,” said Björk.

Björk added that she knew a woman named Blær.  Accordingly, this Blær Guðmundsdóttir, born in 1973 is the only legal Blær in Iceland, named after a character in Nobel Prize in literature winning author Halldór Laxness’s 1957 novel, Brekkukotsannáll (The Fish Can Sing).  The author was friends with Blær Guðmundsdóttir’s parents, and may have influenced the Committee’s decision to approve the name.

Björk’s petition to have her daughter’s name recognized was rejected after she named Blær.  However, now Björk and Blær and have brought suit against the Ministry of the Interior for Blær’s right to legally use her name.  Their case is currently before a District Court, and a verdict is expected within the month, possibly on January 25.  Björk and Blær are prepared to take their case all the way to Iceland’s Supreme Court.

“The law is pretty straightforward so in many cases it’s clearly going to be a yes or a no,” said Agusta Thorbergsdottir, the head of the government committee of three people which hears naming cases.

The Human Name Committee has, however, allowed other masculine words to become girl’s names, among them “auður” (wealth) and “ilmur” (scent).

Blær’s situation is not unique.  In the country of 320 thousand, about 200 people over the age of one year have no name, and are instead listed in the National Registry as merely stúlka (girl) or drengur (boy).  In some cases this is because the parents have not yet submitted information to the Registry or the children are living abroad.  However, as is the case with Blær, the Human Name Committee may not have approved the person’s name.

First names hold particular importance in Iceland, where people are referred to by their given names and surnames are usually patronymics, derived from a father’s first name.  The phone book is indexed by first name, and even the president is called Ólafur Ragnar instead of Mr. Grímsson.

In recent years, the Human Naming Committee, which also has the power to veto adult name changes, has shown greater leniency, but still adhered to certain Icelandic language rules.  The name Elvis has been allowed, while names starting with the letter “c,” such as Cara, Carolina, Cesil, and Christa have been altogether rejected because the letter “c” is not part of Iceland’s 32-letter alphabet.

For example, Icelandic artist Birgir Orn Thoroddsen applied to the Committee to have his name changed to Curver and was rejected.  He said, “I can understand a clause to protect children from being named something like ’Dog poo,’ but it is strange that an adult cannot change his name to what he truly wants.”

Blær and Björk will continue to press forward with their first of its kind case.  In an interview, Björk commented, “So many strange names have been allowed, which makes this even more frustrating because Blær is a perfectly Icelandic name.  It seems like a basic human right to be able to name your child what you want, especially if it doesn’t harm your child in any way…and my daughter loves her name.”

For further information, please see:

Iceland Review – Many Icelanders Nameless in National Registry – 5 January 2013

Reykjavik Grapevine – Nobel-Winning Author Connected To Name Dispute – 4 January 2013

Iceland Review – Girl Named ‘Girl’ Sues State to Have Name Approved – 3 January 2013

Independent – 15-Year-Old Girl with Missing Moniker Set to Sue Icelandic Government in Fight to Legally Use Her Name – 3 January 2013

National Post – State-Approved Names Only, Please: Icelandic Girl Suing Government over Right to Use Her Name – 3 January 2013

RT – What’s in a Name? Quite a Lot, if You Live in Iceland – 3 January 2013

Syrian Revolution Digest – Friday, 4 January 2013

By Any Other Name!

Revolution, civil war, proxy war — they are all terms that denote transformation, heaven knows we needed it. The challenge ahead of us now is to remain vigilant and to keep learning, not just fighting. For whatever the immediate outcome of all these goings-on might be, it will not mark the end of the road, but a solitary milestone telling us what we still need to do to get where we want.  

Today’s Death Toll: 170 (including 14 children and 10 women)
74 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its Suburbs (20 of them in Douma), 26 martyrs in Idlib (7 of them in Qmeinas), 21 martyrs in Aleppo, 16 martyrs in Daraa, 12 martyrs in Homs, 10 martyrs in Deir Ezzor, 7 martyrs in Hama and 6 martyrs in Raqqa.
Points of Random Shelling: 303
21 points were shelled by warplane, 5 points by barrel bombs, 3 points by Thermobaric bombs and 2 points by Cluster bombs. The mortar shelling was reported in 115 points, the artillery shelling in 126 points and the missile shelling in 30 points (LCCs).
Clashes: FSA rebels clashed with the regime forces in 143 locations and downed 4 warplanes today: 2 fighter jets in Aleppo Suburbs, 1 MiG in Deir Ezzor and 1 Helicopter in Taftanaz. The FSA gained control of 70% of Taftanaz Military Airport and killed the leader of the airport and the leader of communications. In Jabal Al-Zawiya, FSA rebels liberated Baidar checkpoint in the town of Rami and captured all the vehicles and ammunitions, they also gained control of Madjana Haboush checkpoint. In Zakiya in Damascus Suburbs, the FSA forced the Air Defense Battalion belonging to the regime forces to retreat from Abassiya area completely, and blocked at attempt by the regime forces to storm Dariya from the southern side. In Raqqa the FSA was able to control the Safeeh Oil Field arresting 15 soldiers and 2 officers in the process. FSA rebels also tried but failed to down a warplane that was shelling the area (LCCs).
News
Special Reports
Where are the demonstrations? The shocking disclosure that Syria’s civil war has claimed at least 60,000 lives has brought precious little reaction. To place this in context, President Bashar al-Assad’s murderous struggle to keep his stranglehold on power has now killed more people than any of the Arab-Israeli wars. Not one of those conflicts, going back to and including 1948, was remotely as bloody as the conflagration in Syria. The nearest comparison is the Six Day War of 1967, which killed 23,500 Arabs and 1,000 Israelis – barely a third of the death toll in today’s Syria.
Those grim assessments by U.N. officials are clearly intended to spur international stakeholders to act more urgently to end the conflict.
Rami Jarrah, a Syrian anti-regime activist now living in Cairo, is launching Syria’s first non-state-run news outlet to provide something he sees as sorely missing: objective reporting.
The Benetech report is only a reflection of available data — not a projection, estimate or demographic study. But there is information in the actual dataset itself that points towards a higher — and maybe even much higher — number of dead.
Though the humanitarian stakes are high, the European Union (France at the forefront) and the U.S. have chosen their allies and continue to defend geostrategic and economic interests by pushing for the fall of the Syrian regime. To pursue this objective, the political discourse is idealistic and focuses on the massacres and humanitarian issues while national interests are real, but not mentioned.
However, from a realistic point of view, the conflict can be viewed as a broader struggle between mainly Russia and Western countries which attempt to advance their national interests. For the West these interests are isolating Iran and bolstering the strategic and economic alliance with Arab allies like Qatar, which invests in Europe and offers an alternative to Russian gas.
This is an excellent analysis of why the conflict in Syria metastasized into a proxy war pitting Russia and Iran on one side, and U.S. and Europe on the other. By now, the reality of this development and the factors contributing to it are simply hard to deny.
Some would even like to argue that the entire conflict in Syria, not to mention the entire Arab Spring phenomenon, were indeed instigated as a reflection of an ongoing geopolitical alignment seeking to isolate Iran, support Gulf allies, and secure future natural gas pipelines. The problem with such analysis is that it simply ignores the genuine democratic aspirations involved on part of revolutionaries and the objective factors that paved the way to the revolutions: authoritarianism, corruption, the youth bulge, and the breakdown of the middle class as a result of introduction of neoliberal economic policies coupled with lack social safety nets and lack of economic opportunity. The Arab Spring and the Syrian Revolution are genuine indigenous phenomena which are now being coopted by a combination of external and domestic players with their own particular agendas. In Syria, the situation has indeed (d)evolved into a proxy war pitting Russia and Iran against the United States and Europe, involving the issues highlighted earlier.
Another thing we should bear in mind while reading this article is that the author, Milad Jokar, had previously made a similar argument and reached a conclusion that was a bit too facile in my view.
Earlier this summer, Vali Nasr, former special adviser to the White House and now Dean of the SAIS of Johns Hopkins University explained on Australia Network News that “the rebels are not democrats, they are too fractured. This is an uprising that is becoming increasingly bloody. It is now essentially a sectarian war between a minority Alawite regime and its Christian and Kurdish allies, and the majority Sunnis”.
Nasr already argued that the conflict “is no longer about democracy, and a liberal democracy does not emerge in these kinds of circumstances of violence and fratricide.”
He compares a possible fall of Assad to the situation of Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2005 where “very quickly al Qaeda began to recruit among Iraqis and then sent Saudis, Egyptians, Syrians to come to Iraq to serve as suicide bombers and take over territories and confront U.S. forces and they became a major muscle within the insurgency”.
Today, we can clearly see this picture in Syria and the current situation confirms the words of Nasr, who warned months ago, “the more the control of the Assad regime erodes, the more you are going to have opportunities in which varieties of forms of illegal activities, from drug lords to criminal to mafia types and to al Qaeda, begin to finding the ability to taking over towns, villages and neighborhoods to operate at will because there is not going to be any police or military to push them out.”
What is happening in Syria is no longer about a democratic movement against a dictatorship, nor is it simply a civil war between two camps. Syria has become the theater of a proxy war which is spilling over to its neighbors. Consequently, to focus only on the departure of President Bashar al Assad is a strategy doomed to failure because it will not solve the conflict. The crisis is spreading far beyond the person of Bashar al Assad. Demanding the departure of the dictator can only be viewed as an attempt to advance the West’s geostrategic and economic interests, namely isolating Iran, securing Western energy supply policies and competing with Russia, and bolstering Arab Gulf allies; what it will not achieve is a lasting ceasefire to stop the bloodshed and a transition to a brighter political future for the Syrian people.
The last paragraph in particular is quite telling: Assad’s departure serves the West’s interests and is not conducive to a lasting ceasefire or a transition to democracy.
By the same logic, however, we can argue that keeping Assad serves Russia’s interests and is equally unhelpful when it comes to achieving a lasting ceasefire, or any ceasefire for that matter, not to mention facilitating transition to democracy. So, the author did not follow his own logic to its own logical conclusion and was unable to say that irrespective of Assad’s fate, no lasting ceasefire or a transition towards democracy is likely at this stage, thanks to this ongoing proxy war. As such, what we have to look forward to in the near future is civil strife and state failure. Both Russia and the West might be willing to live with this outcome for a while, albeit, Russia and Iran might be the ones hurt by it the most. The West might end up wiggling out a victory of some sorts in time, at which point we have to hope that the state can still be put back together, a development that cannot logically happen with Assad and his top aides on board. We simply cannot ignore the element of psychopathy involved in their case. But this development cannot happen unless a highly decentralized vision for administering the country is adopted by all parties. It’s this decentralized vision that might give minority groups a way to decouple themselves from Assad without fearing for their existence.
Be that as it may, the final outcome relies heavily on the nature of unfolding developments on the ground. Surprises can still happen that could twist things around.
Video Highlights
Many activists on the ground are still confusing incendiary cluster bombs with white phosphorous bombs, I did for a while as well. But experts who reviewed this video among others have confirmed that these are white incendiary cluster bombs, treatment for wounds resulting from such bombs is quite different from those resulting from use of white phosphorous. We have alerted many activists to this, and we hope to mount an awareness raising campaign in this regard as well, not that treatment is readily available. This video was taking in Jobar, Homs City where pro-Assad militias have intensified their attacks on restive neighborhood in order to drive out rebels and take full control of the cityhttp://youtu.be/rWWeO4ewnts Nearby village of Eastern Bouaydah was also pounded with cluster bombs http://youtu.be/SqQ1bb6zFKI
A leaked video shows loyalist militias abusing the dead bodies of rebelshttp://youtu.be/Qa2WuMQTp7c
This video reportage by Al-Arabiya shows how Syrian regime media fabricate lies about the rebels. In this part of this video, we see a girl with her face blurred claiming that she has been kidnapped and raped by rebels in the Damascene suburb of Harasta. In the second part, we see clips smuggled by a defector showing the same girl as she rehearsed her parts, giggling, making mistakes and is being corrected by her handlers http://youtu.be/zlyUTBtRq_8
Scud missiles are now being used more regularly in pounding rebel strongholds. This particular missile was fired from Al-Hisheh military base near Tartous City, the target: the Hama countryside http://youtu.be/C69xUPCcQOg
Shelling leaves many dead in Eastern Ghouta, Damascus Suburbs, especially inDouma http://youtu.be/VcRr-1ofV4c , http://youtu.be/qLUmdfFfabY A martyred child http://youtu.be/7qu2wMQIInY Arbeen http://youtu.be/6ZDv-lAZVNE Putting out a fire http://youtu.be/i6-k2RdoM1s And the pounding continued: Hamouriyehhttp://youtu.be/eu-Jfne3Mdk , http://youtu.be/QtxF15DSjP8 ,http://youtu.be/AUGyf012otk Saqba http://youtu.be/nwg4zlpQLVo
In Idlib, the shelling of the town of Qmeinas left many deadhttp://youtu.be/RBslSnKe7jY
Rebels laying siege to Manag Airport, Aleppo http://youtu.be/fuUyvqGndx0 ,http://youtu.be/8zAh1uJTeIA , http://youtu.be/rWV4quacW-Y
Clashes in Aleppo City http://youtu.be/Yy9F4mmFdZc