SYRIAN OPPRESSION: Bashar al-Assad says military operations ended!

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zeenews.india.com / Last Updated: Thursday, August 18, 2011, 15:22.

Amman: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that military and police operations against pro-democracy protesters have stopped, but activists reported more bloodshed overnight.

Local activists said two protesters were shot dead by pro-Assad militiamen on Wednesday after nightly Ramadan prayers in the city of Homs, and security forces carried out raids on districts of Hama and the capital Damascus.

The United States was expected to call on Assad to step down, sources in Washington said. That call could come as soon as Thursday, with the European Union expected to follow suit, the sources said.

As well as the growing Western pressure, Assad also faces criticism from regional Arab states and neighbouring Turkey over his escalated military campaign against the uprising since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on August 01.

"Assad is trying to convince Turkey that the attacks have stopped, which could also help appease the United States, thinking he could once again stop Washington from calling on him to step down," a Western diplomat in Damascus said.

"But the operations have not even stopped."

Although Syrian authorities have announced the Army's withdrawal from Hama and Deir al-Zor, residents say military units are still present in those cities. The Army is also still deployed in Homs and the coastal city of Latakia.

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http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/syria-s-assad-says-military-operations-ended_726834.html

SYRIAN RESISTANCE: Saudi King Condemns Syrian Regime!

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Babak Dehghanpisheh, thedailybeast.com / Aug 9, 2011 12:14 PM EDT.

Saudi King Abdullah, right, and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, left, during a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, Lebanon, in July 2010., Bilal Hussein / AP Photos.

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has spoken out against the Syrian regime. But as Babak Dehghanpisheh reports, the move was also a shot at Syria’s ally: Iran.

The message was about as blunt as it gets. Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah issued a statement on Sunday calling for the Syrian regime to “stop the killing machine.”

“Large numbers of martyrs have fallen, their blood has been shed, and many others have been wounded,” he said. “This is not in accord with religion, values, and morals.” To drive the point home, King Abdullah recalled the Saudi ambassador in Damascus on Monday; Kuwait and Bahrain quickly followed suit.

On the surface, this seems like a strong position taken by one of the region’s most influential Arab governments. After all, at least 2,000 Syrians have been killed since the violent crackdown began in March.

But why did it take five months for the Saudis to speak up? “The Saudis have been leading the antidemocratic transformation in the Arab world, trying to push back the Arab Awakening,” says Rami Khouri, director of the Issam Fares Institute at the American University of Beirut. “So it’s kind of out of character for them to suddenly join the chorus of people who are pressuring the Syrians.”

The reality is that the harsh message wasn’t aimed only at Syria. The elderly Saudi king was also taking a straight jab at another country: Iran, Syria’s most prominent regional ally. "[The Saudis] want to destroy the single and only foreign-policy success of the Iranian Islamic Revolution, which is [establishing] links with Syria and Hizbullah," Khouri says.

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/08/09/saudi-king-abdullah-condemns-syrian-bashar-al-assad-s-regime.html

Syrian Resistance: United Nations warns of mounting Syria casualty rate!

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Reuters / The Guardian, Thursday 16 June 2011.

Syrian refugees in the Turkish city of Hatay, close to the border. Canada has called for an investigation into 'daily reports' of killings, detention and torture in Syria. Photograph: Mustafa Ozer/AFP/Getty Images.

Syria's security forces have used executions, mass arrests and torture to repress pro-democracy protests, the UN human rights office said in a report that could add to calls for a stronger global response.

Entire towns have been besieged, including Deraa, preventing civilians from fleeing and depriving many of food supplies and access to medical care, especially the wounded, it said.

More than 1,100 people are believed to have been killed, many of them unarmed civilians, and up to 10,000 detained since mid-March. The main activist group organising protests said on Sunday the crackdown has killed 1,300 civilians.

"The mounting casualty rate among civilians is alarming," said Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for rights, in a speech to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. "I am gravely concerned about the human rights and humanitarian crises."

In a report to the 47-member forum, her office said it had received numerous allegations, including "the excessive use of force in quelling demonstrators, arbitrary detentions, summary executions, torture" and a clampdown on assembly and expression.

Hope, International Community intervenes to protect any further loss of life of Syrian Civilians!

Full Story at,

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/16/united-nations-syria-casualty-rate

Syrian Resistance: After all this bloodshed, there is no going back for Syria!

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Thursday 16 June 2011 18.30 BST.

Robin Yassin-Kassab / guardian.co.uk

Syrian children hold a vigil for 13-year-old Hamza al-Khatib, who activists say was tortured and killed by Syrian security forces. Photograph: Jamal Saidi/Reuters.

Last January Syria seemed to belong with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states as the least likely candidates for revolution. If President Bashar al-Assad had run in a real election, he may well have won. It's difficult to remember today that most Syrians did credit, if grudgingly, the regime with ensuring security and prosecuting a vaguely nationalist foreign policy. It's that desire for security, the overwhelming fear of Iraq-style chaos, that keeps a section of Syrian society loyal to the regime even now.

To start with, although they were inspired by Tunisia and Egypt, most protesters didn't aim for regime change. The first demonstration, in the commercial heart of Damascus, was a response to police brutality. That ended peacefully, but when Deraa protested over the arrest of schoolchildren the regime spilt blood. Outraged, communities all over the country took to the streets and met greater violence, swelling the crowds further. A vicious circle began. All the intelligence and nationalist pretensions peeled away from the government to reveal a dark and thuggish core.

Worse still, the president spoke of reforms, of ending the state of emergency and abolishing the hated state security courts. Even as he spoke the slaughter intensified. There was no surer way of destroying his credibility. The torrent of horror stories – children tortured to death, women shot, residential areas shelled – destroyed the regime's legitimacy.

The state's extraordinary stupidity suggests either panic or dissension in the inner circle, of which Bashar may only be the figurehead. Syrians debate which arrangement of Assads and Makhloufs (Bashar's mother's family) composes the actual power structure. In any case, Syria's leaders can count on support from the Republican Guard and the army's upper echelons. Yet lower- and middle-ranking defections will increase as the regime seeks to crush the provinces.

So what next? There is a roadmap to a happy ending. The grassrootslocal co-ordination committees call for the president's immediate resignation, and a joint civilian and military council to oversee a six-month transition to a pluralist democracy. "The new Syria will be a republic and a civil state that belongs to all Syrians," reads the LCC statement, "and not to an individual, family or party. It will not be inherited from fathers to sons. All Syrians will be equal in rights and duties without discrimination."

Bashar Al-Assad doesn't appear to be in any hurry to go!  

He will have to be, literally, dragged out of his seat, by the people of Syria!!  

All the Best Syrians!!!

Full Story at,

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jun/16/bloodshed-syria-regime-change

Syrian Resistance: Syrian troops seize restive northern town!

Have you read, “Mayhem of the Miserables!” available @ http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52075

By Liz Sly, Sunday, June 12,  11:24 PM.

BEIRUT — Syrian troops seized control of the northern town of Jisr al-Shughour on Sunday after almost all of the few residents who had remained behind fled north toward the Turkish border.

The Associated Press quoted its correspondent traveling with the troops as saying the Syrian military was in full control of the town. The Local Coordinating Committees, which represents activist groups around Syria, also said it appeared the town was now firmly in army hands.

A resident observing the town through binoculars from a nearby hillside said tanks had been demolishing houses earlier in the morning, that he could still hear occasional bursts of automatic fire and that black plumes of smoke were rising from the town.

But it did not appear that the few residents who had remained behind to defend the town had put up a fight, he said, speaking by telephone. He put their number at no more than a few hundred, including around 70 defected soldiers and said he did not know what had happened to them. “They’re either dead or arrested,” he said. “There is no one left in the town.”

Earlier reports had said as many as 5,000 residents had remained behind to defend the town, but as Syrian troops closed in, many appear to have fled. Some people managed to escape in the early hours of the morning through the town’s northern exit, before the troops moved in, the resident said.

But, how long Bashar Al-Assad would be able to hold supress the onrushing mass movement for Democracy, with brutal military force?

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/syrian-troops-seize-restive-nothern-town/2011/06/12/AGD3LrRH_story.html

Syrian Resistance: India weighs options as West tries to corner Syria!

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Sandeep Dikshit / The Hindu.

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In principle, India would not support raising of the matter at UNSC: Special Envoy

Syria is already under sanctions by some Western countries

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NEW DELHI: India is weighing its options as the West tries to report Syria to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), a move that could upset the delicate balance in West Asia amid unrest in many countries in the region.

The U.S.-piloted proposal to refer Syria to the UNSC may come up before the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the coming week. Syria, an anathema to some western countries, is already under sanctions by some of them after the U.S. failed to convince the UNSC to go for global sanctions for alleged human rights abuses during public protests.

The latest attempt to corner Syria has been triggered by an IAEA report that felt that a building bombed by Israeli jets in 2007 should have been declared by Damascus because “it was very likely a nuclear reactor.''

India need not always follow what the West does, but given the fact that Bashar Al-Assad's regime is indulging in genocide of its own people to suppress the popular demand for democracy, India should support the future democratic set-up of Syria rather than continuing with its loyalties to Assad.

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http://www.hindu.com/2011/06/05/stories/2011060555261600.htm

Syrian Resistance: Syrian tanks attack two central towns!

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AP / The Hindu.

A protester gestures during a demonstration demanding that Syrian President Bashar Assad step down, in front of the Syrian Embassy in Amman, Jordan. File photo - AP.

Syrian activists say government troops backed by tanks are attacking two central towns that have seen intense protests against President Bashar Assad’s regime.

The activists say the attack on Rastan and Talbiseh in the central province of Homs started early on Sunday.

The activists say all roads leading to the two towns have been closed off by security forces and soldiers. The activist spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing government reprisals.

Bashar Assad should stop this Genocide!

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http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2059553.ece

Syrian Resistance: The high price of protesting in Syria: jail and abuse

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By Yara Bayoumy | Reuters – 2 hours 27 minutes ago

BEIRUT (Reuters) - For thousands of protesters who have been marching in the streets of Syria against President Bashar al-Assad, the fear of a hand, its owner invisible, snatching them from the crowd, looms large.

It means they have been caught by security men, in plain clothes, mingling in the crowd. It marks the beginning of a detention, probably involving beatings, blindfolds, handcuffs and verbal abuse -- and possibly worse punishment for daring to protest against 40 years of autocratic rule by the Assad family.

Syrian authorities have expelled Reuters correspondents and banned most independent media from reporting on the unrest that has gripped the country for more than two months, making it hard to report on every aspect of the pro-democracy protests inspired by other uprisings in the Arab world.

Another Candidate for UNSC Intervention.

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http://in.news.yahoo.com/high-price-protesting-syria-jail-abuse-130032786.html;_ylt=AoX1zHgRoQXaH1Wi8UL4STzLscB_;_ylu=X3oDMTNhazNwdWkyBHBrZwNmMjQwZWY0My1jY2YzLTM1MzAtOGI4MC0wZTA2Yjk5MzhmMDMEcG9zAzEwBHNlYwNNZWRpYVRvcFN0b3J5BHZlcgM4ZGMxYzg1MC04NzljLTExZTAtYmJmZi1lYTY4N2IyNmEzODg-;_ylg=X3oDMTFwbHBjaTdnBGludGwDaW4EbGFuZwNlbi1pbgRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdAN3b3JsZARwdANzZWN0aW9ucwR0ZXN0Aw--;_ylv=3