Onrust in Syri� #4 - Waar het momentum groeit

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Syrian Revolution News Round-up

Day 34, Independence Day!
Assad marked Independence Day with renewed bloodshed as protesters demand his ouster.

Perhaps its no coincidence that Assad security forces behave like invaders from outer space, the brainwashing that they have been subjected to over the years is enormous, and, as we have seen in the case of Gaddafi, regimes are always willing to provide lucrative incentives as reward for loyalty in times of crisis.

Be that as it may, today marks a true turning point in Syrias revolution: its now an open showdown between people that want to be free and will no longer compromise on freedom, seeing that previous experiences taught them that such compromises, no matter how reasonable they might appear at the time, always lead back to slavery and serfdom, and a gang of thugs willing and desperate to hold on to power at any cost. The so-called silent majority as well as the international community will have to choose their side soon.

Meanwhile the not-so-silent majority in many cities and towns across the country celebrated Syrias Day of Independence by protesting and calling for toppling the regime.

Homs

There were demonstrations in different parts of the city as well as in surrounding towns, including Rastan and Talbiseh. Earlier reports of bombardment using tanks and artillery could not be confirmed, but tanks and artillery were indeed used to lay siege to both towns. Still, gunfire left dozens of casualties, and 4 were confirmed dead so far, although the final too is expected to rise once dust settles down, especially considering that hospitals are often prevented from providing adequate treatment to the wounded and that security officers have been seen brutalizing the wounded even as they lay in hospital beds. Three fatalities were also reported in Bab Al-Sibaa, especially near the local hospital where protesters tried to prevent security forces from entering and arresting the wounded and from snatching the bodies of the dead, as became customary for them to do since the beginning of the Revolution in an attempt to minimize number of funerals. Meanwhile, eyewitness

Lattakia

Security crackdowns were reported in both the Sleibeh and Tabiat neighborhoods. No exact words yet on fatalities and casualties, but early reports from a number of eyewitnesses in the city mention that dozens have fallen. Its very difficult to get confirmation at this stage. If these figures and those reported from Homs and Mouaddamiyyah below are confirmed, this could be the bloodiest day of the revolution.

Mouaddammiyyah

Major protests demanding regime fall were also met with heavy security crackdown, including tear gas and life ammunition. At one point, reports claimed that women threw boiling water and gas tanks at the security officers s they stormed the narrow streets of the neighborhood. Five fatalities are reported.

Suweida

A small protest of 300 participants was brutally dispersed by local authorities, and though no major casualties were reported, the incident generated much anger among Syrias Druze community whose capital is Suweida. Hani Al-Atrash, the grandson of Suleiman Pasha Al-Atrash, the Grandfather of the Syrian Revolution that paved the way to independence was among the brutalized. As such, what started as small protests could quickly snowball into a major development that could engulf the entire governorate following the example of neighboring Deraa.

Note to Pundit:

Please stop wondering who Assad is. The truth is plain for all to see. Assad is what Assad does, not what Assad says or how he carries himself in public. What Assad has been doing since Year One in office, long before 9/11, the invasion of Iraq, the Freedom Agenda, the assassination of Hariri, and the pullout from Lebanon with the international pressures and UN Resolutions that followed, is to crackdown and stand by the most corrupt members of his family and entourage. The fact that he is doing all this while being personable and goofy, and while sporting a trophy wife, whose own family is equally immersed in corruption at this stage, should not blind us to these other equally visible facts. I wish that western analysts and policymakers bear this in mind when they consider the Syrian situation. Bad Guys in the Middle East dont all look like Saddam or speak like Gaddafi: they just behave like them. So watch what really counts here: behavior on the ground.

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Betogers bezetten plein in Syrische stad Homs

DAMASCUS - Meer dan twintigduizend mensen hebben zich maandagavond verzameld op een plein in het centrum van de plaats Homs in Syri�. Ze hebben tenten opgezet en zeggen niet weg te gaan voordat president Bashar al-Assad zijn functie neerlegt.

De activisten hebben het plein met de naam Al-Saa (klok) omgedoopt tot Tahrirplein, naar het plein in de Egyptische hoofdstad Ca�ro waar duizenden mensen demonstreerden tegen het autoritaire regime van inmiddels verdreven president Hosni Mubarak.

''Dit is een sit-in zonder einde, die we zullen volhouden totdat al onze eisen zijn ingewilligd'', aldus de activiste.

Homs was zondag nog het toneel van het bloedige ingrijpen van de Syrische ordetroepen. Die schoten volgens activisten zeker acht demonstranten dood.

Ook raakten tientallen mensen gewond. In de centrale provincie Homs, waarvan Homs de hoofdstad is, vielen de afgelopen week ook al doden door ongeregeldheden.

Gewapende opstand

Het Syrische ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken stelde maandag de ''gewapende opstand'' de kop in te zullen drukken. Volgens het ministerie ondermijnen de betogers de veiligheid in het land.

In Syri� wordt al wekenlang tegen het regime van Assad betoogd. De president regeert met ijzeren hand, sinds hij in 2000 zijn vader opvolgde.

De hegemonie van de Baathpartij duurt al sinds de jaren zestig, net als de noodtoestand die de autoriteiten in staat stelt politieke onrust hardhandig de kop in te drukken.

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Weg vrij voor opheffen noodtoestand Syri�
_{Uitgegeven: 19 april 2011 16:01 Laatst gewijzigd: 19 april 2011 16:46}

DAMASCUS - De Syrische regering heeft dinsdag ingestemd met een wetsvoorstel voor het opheffen van de noodtoestand, meldden Syrische staatsmedia. De autoritaire president Bashar al-Assad moet de wet nog ondertekenen.

Tegen de noodtoestand die al sinds 1963 van kracht is, was de laatste tijd steeds meer verzet gerezen.

Syri� is al weken het toneel van massale protesten tegen het bewind van Assad. Betogers riepen niet alleen om afschaffing van de noodwetten, maar ook om het aftreden van de president.

De noodtoestand werd in de afgelopen decennia gebruikt om elke vorm van oppositie de kop in te drukken.

Toespraak

Assad had zaterdag in een toespraak tot zijn kabinet gezegd dat de noodtoestand in de komende week moest worden opgeheven. Hij waarschuwde wel dat er nieuwe wetgeving komt, die hard zal zijn voor ''saboteurs''.

De regering in Syri� heeft minder macht dan in veel landen gebruikelijk is, want Assad en zijn entourage domineren de staatsinstellingen. Er zijn al een maand betogingen tegen zijn regime, ondanks uiterst gewelddadig optreden van het veiligheidsapparaat tegen demonstranten.

Veiligheidsrechtbanken

Het Syrische kabinet heeft dinsdag ook een wetsvoorstel aangenomen voor de opheffing van de speciale veiligheidsrechtbanken.

Mensenrechtenorganisaties stellen dat deze organen verantwoordelijk zijn voor oneerlijke processen, waarbij tegenstanders van het regime worden veroordeeld tot lange celstraffen.

Profiel Syri�

Alles over de onrust in het Midden-Oosten � ANP/Novum

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[quote]Rosenthal belt met Brussel over Syri�

_{dinsdag 19 april 2011 | 15:47 | Laatst bijgewerkt op: dinsdag 19 april 2011 | 15:51}
AMSTERDAM – Minister van buitenlandse zaken Uri Rosenthal neemt dinsdag nog contact op met EU-buitenlandchef Catherine Ashton om aan te dringen op actie tegen het Syrische regime. Dat heeft Rosenthal gezegd op aandringen van het CDA.
CDA-Kamerlid Henk Jan Ormel riep tijdens het wekelijkse vragenuur in de Tweede Kamer op tot actie tegen Syri� in verband met het gewelddadige optreden van het regime tegen betogers die het vertrek van president Bashar Assad eisen.

Ormel wil dat de Veiligheidsraad van de Verenigde Naties zich uitspreekt over Syri�. Ook moet de Europese Unie de gesprekken over een associatieakkoord stopzetten. Ormel vindt het verder absurd dat Syri� kandidaat is voor de VN-Mensenrechtenraad.

Rosenthal beloofde de punten over te brengen aan Ashton. Hij zei de zorgen om het aanhoudende geweld in Syri� te delen.

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Op donderdag 21 april 2011 07:04 schreef Djaser het volgende:
Diep treurig hoe sommige mensen hier de ellende in Syrie toejuichen. Let vooral op de analyse van het buurland:

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=217338

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Op donderdag 21 april 2011 07:04 schreef Djaser het volgende:
Diep treurig hoe sommige mensen hier de ellende in Syrie toejuichen. Let vooral op de analyse van het buurland:

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=217338

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Op donderdag 21 april 2011 09:39 schreef ChristianLebaneseFront het volgende:
Er is helemaal niets aan de hand in Syrie.

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Op donderdag 21 april 2011 09:39 schreef ChristianLebaneseFront het volgende:
Er is helemaal niets aan de hand in Syrie.

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Op donderdag 21 april 2011 09:39 schreef ChristianLebaneseFront het volgende:
Er is helemaal niets aan de hand in Syrie.

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Syrian Revolution News Round-up - Day 36

The (Dis)Information War!

The Ministry of Interior now blames violence in Homs and elsewhere on Salafist infiltrators, protesters beg to differ by raising new slogans and renewing their call for Assad's ouster, just as he set to announce lifting of Emergency laws.

We are now officially in Phase II of the Syrian Revolution, a phase marked by daily protests and straight out calls for the removal of Bashar Assad. The upcoming repeal of emergency laws is way too little way too late. After all, the real problem is not confined to the law, its in the people making up the ruling junta, including Bashar and his family, the heads of the security apparatuses, and their clients and proxies in the Baath party, other loyal political movements and the society at large. So long as these people continue to be responsible for decision-making, and so long as free media remains chimera and the judiciary and legislative systems lack independence nothing will ever change in Syria. That is in short why this revolution is changing the regime and ousting the Assads, and not just repealing laws and asking for reforms. The system is simply rotten to the core.

Today protesters took on the Ministry of Interior who accused the protesters of being infiltrated by Salafis. Many see this as an attempt to prepare the way for more violent crackdowns against protests. As such, some of the slogans today seem to have come as a response to this dangerous accusation. The people of Homs and Banyas also issued statements refuting the accusations and assuring their commitments to national unity and nonviolence.

Still, in Homs, eyewitnesses report that security officers dressed like Salafists have looted shops in the Zahira Neighborhood as others filmed the scene using their cellphones and cameras. After yesterdays major protests, with more than 150,000 people taking to the streets, authorities are trying to pave the way for a major showdown by creating their usual disinformation campaign. The gamut of accusations already deployed by Assad propagandists and officials include: Saboteurs supported by Saad Hariri and Bandar Bin Sultan, Mossad and CIA agents, Members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, and now Salafists. Tomorrow, expected Martians to be added to the list.

A major crackdown could already be unfolding in Talbisseh as we speak. The town is completely besieged by security forces and army troops in preparation, as we are told, for storming the town. Reports claim that many residents had already left. But since all communications lines with Talbisseh have been cut, its very difficult for us at this stage to get a clear idea of what transpiring or has transpired. We will keep monitoring the situation.

Meanwhile, students at Damascus Medical School held a silent sit-in on campus demanding release of student activists, return of expelled students, respecting students rights, and punishing those responsible for bloodshed. Within ten minutes, according to eyewitness reports, 2 buses transporting political security officers entered the campus and officers came out and immediately started beating the students with batons, bludgeoning many. Many were also arrested, including those recording the event with their cellphones. Officers accused students of being Israeli agents.

Protests took place as well in several Damascene suburbs, including Zabadani and Tal, as well as in Banyas, Jableh and Deir Ezzor.

Poll:
Al-Jazeerah Arabic website conducted a three-day poll on whether reforms introduced by Assad would prove sufficient to stop protests. 35% said yes, 65% said no. Over 72,000 people took part in the poll. Such polls may not very scientific, but they do give idea of where things stand at this stage than the pontification of pundits who until revolt broke out thought Assad regime immune to recent upheaval.

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Op donderdag 21 april 2011 09:10 schreef Aloulou het volgende:

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Misschien omdat sommigen zijn analyse niet helemaal delen ?

Daarnaast vraag ik je, geloof je dat Assad's regime in staat is tot zelfreflectie en flinke echte hervormingen in het beleid? Zo niet, dan blijft de situatie explosief verdergaan met vooral twee minderheden (Christenen en Alawieten) die overduidelijk zich meer vereenzelfigen met het regime dan anderen en ten koste van anderen... slechts kwestie van tijd dus. Of de bom barst nu of over 10 jaar.

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Dit zei ik ook tegen CLF dat hij dom is als (Libanese) Christen zo Assad op te hemelen omdat ze zijn Christelijke familie en vrienden in Syrie weleens al hun geld op het verkeerde paard kunnen zetten en daarmee heel veel zouden kunnen verliezen.

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Op donderdag 21 april 2011 09:39 schreef ChristianLebaneseFront het volgende:
Er is helemaal niets aan de hand in Syrie.

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Op donderdag 21 april 2011 22:23 schreef Zith het volgende:
'het moorden aan het bejubelen'?

Dat zijn vooral de aanhangers. Tegenstanders zie ik er vooral schande van roepen.

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Op vrijdag 22 april 2011 08:36 schreef Djaser het volgende:

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Overigens zie ik afgezien van CLF weinig voorstanders hier...