And next, Syria?

[Divisive Cotton]

Fair play to the Syrians these been reports of demos all over Syria today

 

[Divisive Cotton]

fuck check this out! hama today - amazing bravery:

 

[Divisive Cotton]

In Washington, there is a growing sense that Assad's rule is coming to an end.

US starts planning for a post-Assad Syria:

http://www.npr.org/2011/05/30/136727264/change-appears-inevitable-in-syria-analysts-say

 

[Divisive Cotton]

Some movement from the regime here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13607770

"President Assad grants a general pardon for the crimes committed before 31 May," it said.

"The pardon includes all those who belong to political movements, including the Muslim Brotherhood."

it is also expected that Syrian authorities will launch an attempt at national dialogue in the next few days, though it is not clear who they intend to talk to.

 

[Divisive Cotton]

FFS!

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/05/201153185927813389.html

Tortured and killed: Hamza al-Khateeb, age 13

The child had spent nearly a month in the custody of Syrian security, and when they finally returned his corpse it bore the scars of brutal torture: Lacerations, bruises and burns to his feet, elbows, face and knees, consistent with the use of electric shock devices and of being whipped with cable, both techniques of torture documented by Human Rights Watch as being used in Syrian prisons during the bloody three-month crackdown on protestors.

Hamza's eyes were swollen and black and there were identical bullet wounds where he had apparently been shot through both arms, the bullets tearing a hole in his sides and lodging in his belly.

Hamza's mutilated, castrated corpse was riddled with bullet holes and burn marks

On Hamza's chest was a deep, dark burn mark. His neck was broken and his penis cut off.

 

[elbows]

The torture & killing of the boy enables Assad to be attacked more effectively on several fronts:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13615150

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should face trial at a UN court over the "brutal" treatment of his people, Australia's foreign minister says.

Kevin Rudd said incidents such as the alleged torture and murder of a 13-year-old boy by security forces had robbed Mr Assad of any legitimacy.

President Assad invited the boy's family to meet him and promised an inquiry, state television said.

Meanwhile a rights activist said over 500 political prisoners had been freed.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said many of those released had been arrested after taking part in anti-government protests.

Activists say more than 1,000 people have died in weeks of protests.

The 13-year-old boy, Hamza al-Khatib, has become an icon of the anti-government uprising in Syria, says the BBC's Jim Muir

 

[Divisive Cotton]

reports filtering through today of protests all over Syria - 50k in Hama alone

 

[Divisive Cotton]

On Friday's posts:

Activists and reporters in Syria say that yesterday’s protests against President Assad’s regime were the largest since the uprising began three months ago.

Protests took place in four neighbourhoods of Damascus: Medan, Rukin Adeen, Qaboun and Barzah.

In the towns around Damascus, protests took place in Duma, Harsta, Daria, Al-Tal, Maddaya , Zabadani, Gdeidah Artouz and Hajjar al-Aswad.

In Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, there were two demonstrations near the Amnah Mosque and on Nile Street, as well as two larger protests in A’zaz and Mara’a in Aleppo governorate.

At the other end of the county, in the far south, large protests took place in Deraa, where the uprising began, and in surrounding towns of Akhel, Na’amah and Tabiah.

In the far eastern governorate of Deir Ezzour, there were protests in the city itself, as well as in Miadeen, Al Boukamal and Ishara’a, near the Iraqi border.

"I can say now there are no posters and statues of the Assad family in Deir Ezzour. The protesters burnt all the Baath party branches,” said Fatah, 28, a pro-democracy activist from Deir Ezzour.

Combined with protests by up to 100,000 in Hama and its surrounding villages and up to 100,000 who took to the streets in Maarat an-Numan, a city further north - as well as protests in Lattakia, Homs and Rastan - Friday's demonstrations likely involved at least 300,000 people, the largest protests since the Syrian uprising began in mid-March.

 

[TomUS]

Whilst it's a big challenge to the regime it doesn't seem to have the critical mass behind it that can overwhelm the security forces and start causing enough internal divisions that the Assad clan will start to fold. Those people are fucking brave though, the best of luck to them. Turning up once a week after Friday prayers is not enough though IMO, and the army/militia seem too powerful and well armed for violent struggle to be that effective (at the moment anyway).

Rumblings on the media about this becoming quite sectarian though, due to the Assads and cronies being from a minority Shia group. Possibly why the Islamic Republic next door seems keen on keeping them afloat?

Saw on some news show that the military/security forces are dominated by Allawites. They dare not lose because they're 10% of the pop & after all the years of oppression, they'd be torn to pieces. So they'll fight to the last non-Allawite Syrian.

And I doubt Iran is supporting Assad because of being Allawite. Many Muslims don't consider them genuine Muslims although they are a very watered down Shia. I think Iran supports him because he funnels Iranian arms to Hezbollah.

 

[Riklet]

If the gov. keeps shooting soldiers they're going to have a full revolt on their hands pretty soon.

Soviets ahoy

 

[agricola]

If the gov. keeps shooting soldiers they're going to have a full revolt on their hands pretty soon.

Soviets ahoy

Syrian state TV is claiming that "gangs" have popped off 120-odd members of the Syrian security services, including 82 in an attack on their HQ:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13672725

 

[Divisive Cotton]

It's really odd - sounds more like infighting between government forces

 

[TomUS]

It's really odd - sounds more like infighting between government forces

Or a lie/exaggeration by the Syrian gov to justify even harsher methods of repression.

 

[agricola]

Or a lie/exaggeration by the Syrian gov to justify even harsher methods of repression.

Maybe, but why would they make up a claim that 120 odd of their security forces have been killed in a day? It would just make them look weak, and encourage people elsewhere to have a pop.

As DC says, if it is a lie, then its more likely designed to cover up executions of non-loyal personnel.

 

[dylans]

Amina Abdallah Araf al Omari, the author of the blog "A Gay Girl in Damascus" has been kidnapped by Syrian state forces.

Earlier today, at approximately 6:00 pm Damascus time, Amina was walking in the area of the Abbasid bus station, near Fares al Khouri Street. She had gone to meet a person involved with the Local Coordinating Committee and was accompanied by a friend.


Amina told the friend that she would go ahead and they were separated. Amina had, apparently, identified the person she was to meet. However, while her companion was still close by, Amina was seized by three men in their early 20’s. According to the witness (who does not want her identity known), the men were armed. Amina hit one of them and told the friend to go find her father.


One of the men then put his hand over Amina’s mouth and they hustled her into a red Dacia Logan with a window sticker of Basel Assad. The witness did not get the tag number. She promptly went and found Amina’s father.


The men are assumed to be members of one of the security services or the Baath Party militia. Amina’s present location is unknown and it is unclear if she is in a jail or being held elsewhere in Damascus.

http://damascusgaygirl.blogspot.com/2011/06/amina.html

 

[bolshiebhoy]

WTF is going on in Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp? Not bad enough that the Israelis kill unarmed people, now the PFLP-GC are at it?

 

[Divisive Cotton]

There's talk that relatives of the dead protesters on Sunday burned down the headquarters of the PFLP-GC because it was felt that PFLP-GC adventurism recklessly got them killed

So maybe that above is, in turn, their response

 

[dylans]

WTF is going on in Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp? Not bad enough that the Israelis kill unarmed people, now the PFLP-GC are at it?

Jibril's General Command have long since sold their souls to Assad and have a long history of factional and sectarian violence in both Syria and Lebanon, They are nothing more than a tool for the Syrian (and sometimes the Iranian) regimes these days. They also reportedly have their grubby fingers in the Lockerbie atrocity somewhere too. Jibril is not known as the revolutionary nihilist for nothing

 

[dylans]

The guardian is reporting that tanks are massing outside Jisr al-Shughour and the town has all but emptied ahead of an expected assault. It also reports that an armed uprising took place there with military defections. If true then it explains the deaths of the Syrian military personal and is the first indication that the uprising is taking on a new armed phase

The Syrian town of Jisr al-Shughour was besieged by columns of government tanks on Tuesday night as the army massed for what is feared will be an all-out assault on residents it claims killed more than 120 security force members over the weekend.

By nightfall most inhabitants had fled to nearby Turkey before the expected sharp escalation in a three-month uprising that has pitched largely unarmed demonstrators against a regime using increasingly lethal force to suppress the gravest threat to its four-decade rule.
Jisr al-Shughour, a town of 41,000 people, was largely abandoned. The hospital stood empty and the intelligence headquarters, which had been the scene of an uprising on Sunday, was now a looted and empty shell, according to three men who had stayed behind....

Exactly what happened is not yet clear, but anecdotal evidence emerging from the town suggested that armed clashes did take place. One witness told the Guardian that some officers from the security headquarters had switched allegiances and were shot by loyalists from inside the building.

"They were killing the defecting officers," said one local speaking by telephone. "The people came to defend them and then they had to defend themselves. There was a battle."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/07/government-tanks-mass-outside-syrian-town

 

[Divisive Cotton]

Amina Abdallah Araf al Omari, the author of the blog "A Gay Girl in Damascus" has been kidnapped by Syrian state forces.

http://damascusgaygirl.blogspot.com/2011/06/amina.html

There's a lot of info coming out about she could actually not exist and her blog is a work of fiction:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/jun/08/syria-middle-east-unrest

Reading the evidence presented it is pretty fishy

 

[Divisive Cotton]

god that's well dark

there's a blog post about Amina the Syrian blogger who most probably isn't here: http://bookmaniac.org/painful-doubts-about-amina/

 

[Divisive Cotton]

Actually, I've changed my mind a bit about this.

Look at the evidence here from the Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/08/syria-gay-girl-damascus-abduction

A number of internet sites appear to lend credence to the blogger's story, but are extremely difficult to verify independently. Abandoned sites on Myspace and Linkedin appear to belong to the same person, as does a cached lesbian dating site page dated to 2007, in which "almondeyez" describes herself as "the coolest, sexiest half-Arab SF loving geek girl you'll ever meet". Many details on the sites are consistent with those outlined on the blog.

And look at a comment here:

Liz, I for one appreciate your thoughtful stance as well as your commitment to the truth. I have found a few more things worth investigating:

1. A new comment on the Gay Girl In Damascus site, as follows:
“Mitchell said…For the people who believe she’s a fake,
http://aminaarraf.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alternate-history/message/25691
9 June 2011 04:10″
The first link, we’ve seen. The second link is new. It leads to a web site about alternate history. The particular message linked is an exchange wherein “Mark” alerts folks in the community that Amina, who hasn’t been active in awhile, has been kidnapped by Syrian paramilitary. The reply from another member, a language professor, is as follows: “Are you sure it is the same woman? I recall her announcement of her marriage here some years ago…” To which Mark replies: “Unfortunately, yes. There cannot be that many women named Amina Arraf who are Arab-American with roots in Syria and Virginia. And she is still friends with Scott Palter. She was married a few years back, IIRC. Obviously, her personal life is complicated.”

I'm speculating that Amina is real but has taken pains to obscure her identity including giving a false name and throwing in false details - such as different place names - when she has talked about her history

 

[Divisive Cotton]

Interesting tweets coming through from journalists on the Turkish / Syrian border:

Martin Chulov
Turkish govt blocking access to fleeing syrians here in southern town of Yayladagi. They clearly don't want to upset Damascus.

Anita McNaught
Let's be frank. As far as I can see, no media - local or foreign - is able to freely speak to Syrians fleeing Jisr Shughour bcz of Turk gov.

 

[Divisive Cotton]

But then again... the Amina thing sounds increasingly weird after reading this: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way...us-a-personal-friend-sifts-through-whats-real

 

[Divisive Cotton]

Christ, Jisr al-Shughour is turning into another Hama

There's eyewitness accounts that there are thousands of people hiding in the hills and the government is using helicopters to hunt them down and that they are also operating a scorched earth policy of raising villages, destroying their olive groves and burning down their crops

 

[AKA pseudonym]

http://damascusgaygirl.blogspot.com/2011/06/apology-to-readers.html

Apology to readers
I never expected this level of attention. While the narrative voıce may have been fictional, the facts on thıs blog are true and not mısleading as to the situation on the ground. I do not believe that I have harmed anyone -- I feel that I have created an important voice for issues that I feel strongly about.

I only hope that people pay as much attention to the people of the Middle East and their struggles in thıs year of revolutions. The events there are beıng shaped by the people living them on a daily basis. I have only tried to illuminate them for a western audience.

This experience has sadly only confirmed my feelings regarding the often superficial coverage of the Middle East and the pervasiveness of new forms of liberal Orientalism.

However, I have been deeply touched by the reactions of readers.

Best,
Tom MacMaster,
Istanbul, Turkey
July 12, 2011

The sole author of all posts on this blog

 

[Divisive Cotton]

There's an article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/13/syrian-lesbian-blogger-tom-macmaster

I like this comment at the end:

In a message to another journalist, she [his wife] said: "We are on vacation in Turkey and just really want to have a nice time and not deal with all this craziness at the moment."

 

[Divisive Cotton]

A report from Anita McNaught here on the Turkey / Syria border:

 

[Divisive Cotton]

jesus christ look at this footage: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n....ge-shows-armed-attack-on-villagers-2011-06-14

this is happening everywhere in Syria isn't it

 

[Barking_Mad]

jesus christ look at this footage: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n....ge-shows-armed-attack-on-villagers-2011-06-14

this is happening everywhere in Syria isn't it

As one comment asked on that link, where are all the women?