And next, Syria?

[teqniq]

Whilst the U.S. government seems to be dithering over actually implementing the Cesar act people are taking matters ito their own hands:

Syrian families and human rights groups call for release of 135,000 still detained as US court opens landmark case into Syrian-state torture

 

[JimW]

Missed the news that Jordan killed a Syrian drug trader in an airstrike early last month, apparently the speed pills have been something Assad has been able to leverage to get back in with neighbouring states: A little white pill, Captagon, gives Syria's Assad a strong tool in winning over Arab states

 

[JimW]

Article on prison music culture: Ex-Syrian Prisoners Reunite With Music as Their Balm

In a country where a large part of the population lives or has lived in prison, imprisonment becomes part of the country’s national history and identity, says Eylaf Bader Eddin, a researcher at the SYRASP project in Berlin that studies the narratives and cultural practices of incarceration under the Assad regime. The 37-year-old wrote his doctoral thesis on translating the language of the Syrian uprising and has been working on prison songs for the past three years. According to him, prison culture has become a part of Syria’s cultural heritage, worthy of being preserved.

“If we don’t document it, it will be forgotten, and this is what the regime wants,” Bader Eddin says. “Since 2011 the metaphorical war of the regime is erasing the past and creating new narratives to describe what happened in the last 10 years.”

“And if you did not follow the rules you were punished,” says Faraj Bayraqdar. He remembers what happened to his little brother Ibrahim when he got caught playing his oud in Sednaya: After breaking the precious instrument, “the guards put Ibrahim in an isolation cell six floors underground, in total darkness and so humid his clothes fell apart.” For a whole month he had no human interaction. Twice a day the guards would push a plate of food under his door. But even there, Ibrahim remembers, he was dancing “dabke” (a regional folk dance) on his own, singing and screaming the whole time, resisting the silence and isolation that was supposed to be his punishment.

“Music really was a strong shield that protected us and kept us going throughout the years,” he says.

 

[teqniq]

Peaceful protests again:

 

[teqniq]

Protests are continuing Sweida, however this may well be a prelude to mass killings and disappearances:

 

[JimW]

Longer backgrounder on the Sweida protests and Druze disenchantment: Syria’s Druze Have Run Out of Patience With Assad

 

[yield]

UN: Syria seeing largest escalation of hostilities in four years
UN Syria Commission to investigate alleged use of cluster munitions and incendiary weapons, as conflict sees marked increase in Syrian, Russian, Turkish and Israeli attacks
middle east eye. 28 October 2023

"We are witnessing the largest escalation of hostilities in Syria in four years," Pinheiro said in a statement to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, Syrian forces retaliated following an attack on a graduation ceremony at the Homs Military Academy that killed at least 123 people, including officers and parents of the graduating students, and wounded at least 150, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

In just four days of ground shelling over greater Idlib, some 200 civilians were killed or injured.

"In apparent retaliation for an attack that injured two members of the Turkish security forces in Ankara on 1 October, Turkey reportedly responded with heavy bombardment of [US-backed] Syrian Democratic Forces in Hasakeh [a city in northeastern Syria]," Pinheiro added.

Drone strikes by Turkey on Kurdish-held areas of northeast Syria between 5 and 10 October damaged critical infrastructure and resulted in disruptions to the water and electricity supply of millions of people, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report on Thursday.

Citing civilian groups, HRW said that there had been 150 attacks on the area, with dozens of people killed.

"By targeting critical infrastructure across northeast Syria, including power and water stations, Turkey has flouted its responsibility to ensure that its military actions do not aggravate the region's already dire humanitarian crisis," Adam Coogle, deputy Middle East director at HRW, said.

In addition to the Syrian, Russian and Turkish attacks, the north and south of Syria have also been attacked by Israel, which has put Damascus and Aleppo International Airports out of service four times since the beginning of the Israeli-Palestinian war on 7 October.

Israel, which has launched thousands of attacks on Syria over the last decade, rarely claims responsibility for its attacks.

 

[teqniq]

Not unfortunately that I expect them to ever be actually held to account but still it diminishes chances of legitimacy:

French Magistrates Issue Arrest Warrants for the Syrian President and Three Associates for Chemical Weapons Attacks

%

scm.bz

 

[teqniq]

Arrested and charged.

First indictment in Belgium for war crimes under the Assad regime in Syria - World Today News

For the first time, someone has been charged in Belgium with serious violations of international humanitarian law for crimes during the civil war in Syria, which started in March 2011. The federal public prosecutor’s office reported this on Friday. The man in question, Hossin A., was charged and...

www.world-today-news.com

 

[JimW]

Insurgents back in Aleppo: Syria insurgents breach second largest city of Aleppo, fighters and a war monitor say
Mentions in the article the distraction of Iranian-backed pro-regime militias; presume Russian preoccupation has helped too.

 

[teqniq]

It looks very much like Aleppo will fall to the rebels:

 

[Spandex]

The rebels appear to be a coalition of islamist groups led by former al-Qaeda associates Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, who have controlled an area west of Aleppo for a while.

Looking at that link the fallings in and out of islamist groups make western leftist groupsicles look like a model of unity.

 

[Flavour]

Did not see this coming. I expected idlib to collapse years ago.

 

[zahir]

This report is saying they've taken Aleppo.

It took Assad four years to capture Aleppo – Syrian rebels took it back within hours

Jihadi fighters meet little resistance from fleeing army as they storm forward

www.telegraph.co.uk

Archived version: https://archive.ph/f6Y42

 

[zahir]

Prisoners being released:
https://nitter.poast.org/HussamHamoud/status/1862636195391365473#m

Detainees, including women, were released from Assad regime prisons in #Aleppo after #DOA rebels took control, following years of unfair treatment and forced disappearances.

https://nitter.poast.org/HassounMazen/status/1862639823426666666#m

One of the amazing news today is this: Yamen Aldou was liberated today in Aleppo after 13 years of detention by Assad Regime. He was one of 100 prisoners released today after Syrian rebels took control of #Aleppo city.

 

[zahir]

One question now is what happens between the rebels and the Kurds.

https://nitter.poast.org/kurdishblogger/status/1862605829318267128#m

Kurds in neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud have given refuge to civilians fleeing from the rest of Aleppo. Now more SDF forces arriving in the neighborhood to protect the Kurds and their Arab neighbors

https://nitter.poast.org/kurdishblogger/status/1862631708450853178#m

Kurdish led SDF welcome Arab civilians fleeing from other parts of Aleppo under assault from HTS to their neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud

 

[zahir]

Reports that Assad is currently in Moscow.

https://nitter.poast.org/rallaf/status/1862652477872410900#m

Many are assuming Bashar Assad is (still or was at all) in Moscow, but we don't know. Meanwhile, SANA's website has been down for hours, and still no official statement or message to population from a government whose 2nd largest city has just been overtaken by armed forces.

 

[teqniq]

Reuters update. It appears the Russians are going to be providing more support so it looks like more fighting as the regime attempts to retake the city and territory the rebels ave overrun. At least 27 civilians reported killed:

As Syrian rebels sweep into Aleppo, army closes airport and roads, sources say

 

[teqniq]

Leila Al Shami is a long-time Syrian activist who i believe is based in the UK

@LeilaShami
Rebels liberated one of the prisons in Aleppo last night. Many male and female prisoners are now free ...

View attachment ssstwitter.com_1732956466543.mp4

source

 

[Flavour]

Israel have done HTS a solid here, which is quite funny

 

[zahir]

This looks like a more informed report than some.

Aleppo City is Liberated

The opposition enters Aleppo City for the first time in eight years

syriarevisited.substack.com

 

[mojo pixy]

Israel have done HTS a solid here, which is quite funny

Indeed. Russia preoccupied with Ukraine, Iran with new problems and Hizbollah on sick leave. Assad doesn't really have any friends left.

I don't know a lot about HTS except that they split from daesh, so I can only imagine what it must be like to live in a place where rule by Bashir al Assad is preferable to the only likely alternative. Dreaming of being rescued by the turkish army

 

[teqniq]

Indeed. Russia preoccupied with Ukraine, Iran with new problems and Hizbollah on sick leave. Assad doesn't really have any friends left.

I don't know a lot about HTS except that they split from daesh, so I can only imagine what it must be like to live in a place where rule by Bashir al Assad is preferable to the only likely alternative. Dreaming of being rescued by the turkish army

Not Daesh. Formerly known as al-Nusra they are. rebranded al-Quaeda. This does not of course rule out connections to them:

Syria group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and al-Qaeda legacy

Who are Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the most powerful group in the last province held by rebels in Syria?

www.bbc.com

 

[zahir]

Reports that rebels have taken Maarat al-Numan and Kafranbel.

source

 

[zahir]

Reports now of rebels approaching Hama and government forces leaving the city.

eta: now inside Hama
source

 

[Flavour]

well this is all very 2012, isn't it? quite surprising and nothing to love whatsoever about HTS but i'll still take some joy in the defeat for Russia, Iran and Assad

 

[zahir]

Interview from last year with a journalist who visited the area under HTS control.

Journey to Idlib: An Interview with Wassim Nasr, Journalist, France24 - Combating Terrorism Center at West Point

Wassim Nasr is a French journalist who has been monitoring jihadi groups for more than a decade for the French news outlet France24 in French, English, and Arabic. He has conducted multiple investigations and interviews in this regard. He is the author of État islamique, le fait accompli (2016)...

ctc.westpoint.edu

 

[zahir]

https://nitter.poast.org/Charles_Lister/status/1862917245950640138#m

The situation in #Syria is developing rapidly.
Widespread reports (& footage) of clashes in central #Damascus, including outside the Four Seasons, amid claims of a coup.
Former armed opposition factions in the south are engaging regime forces in clashes too.

https://nitter.poast.org/Charles_Lister/status/1862925405658726525#m

#Aleppo has fallen.
#Hama has fallen.
Opposition fighters are engaging #Assad's regime in multiple areas of #Daraa & #Homs.
Regime infighting is confirmed in #Damascus.

 

[PTK]

well this is all very 2012, isn't it? quite surprising and nothing to love whatsoever about HTS but i'll still take some joy in the defeat for Russia, Iran and Assad

I am old enough to remember when people welcomed the triumph of Islamists in Iran and in Afghanistan.

 

[kebabking]

https://nitter.poast.org/Charles_Lister/status/1862917245950640138#m

https://nitter.poast.org/Charles_Lister/status/1862925405658726525#m

What is it with the Four Seasons chain?