Onrust in Syri� #5 - Waar vrijheid als muziek in de oren klinkt.

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Op zaterdag 14 mei 2011 18:55 schreef Frikandelbroodje het volgende:
Weet iemand hoeveel mensen er nu precies protesteren in Syri�? Ik heb wat cijfers van een paar steden maar hoeveel protesteren er nu in het hele land? 20 000? 50 000 of 300 000? Ik zou het niet weten, alvast bedankt

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Op zaterdag 14 mei 2011 19:13 schreef Frikandelbroodje het volgende:

[..]

Iemand?

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Op zaterdag 14 mei 2011 19:31 schreef Triggershot het volgende:
Mouaz al-Khatib die gast was mijn docent.

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Op zaterdag 14 mei 2011 19:33 schreef Triggershot het volgende:

[..]

Omdat hij mij heeft opgeleid?

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Op zaterdag 14 mei 2011 19:31 schreef Triggershot het volgende:
Mouaz al-Khatib die gast was mijn docent.

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Syri� beschiet vluchtelingen in Libanon


De Syrische strijdkrachten hebben vandaag schoten afgevuurd op mensen die naar het buurland Libanon waren gevlucht. Zeker een persoon kwam om het leven, vijf anderen raakten gewond. Dat maakten bronnen binnen het Libanese veiligheidsapparaat bekend.

De vluchtelingen zijn afkomstig uit de plaats Tall Kalakh, die circa 160 kilometer ten noorden van de Syrische hoofdstad Damascus ligt. Sinds eind april zijn al circa vijfduizend mensen uit Tall Kalakh gevlucht, waar het veiligheidsapparaat van de autoritaire president Bashar al-Assad keihard optreedt tegen betogers die het vertrek eisen van het staatshoofd.

De protesten tegen Assad braken ongeveer twee maanden geleden uit. Het regime probeert de onrust met harde hand de kop in te drukken. De Verenigde Naties schatten het dodental op zeker zevenhonderd en mogelijk 850.

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Op zondag 15 mei 2011 12:58 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]

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Op zondag 15 mei 2011 13:12 schreef remlof het volgende:

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Ik las het ja. Moeten ze eens aan de Turkse grens doen. Dan kon meteen NAVO Artikel 5 in werking worden gesteld.

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Op zondag 15 mei 2011 13:24 schreef Monidique het volgende:

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Nou ja, aangezien Libanon niet is aangevallen, zou Turkije ook niet zijn aangevallen. Verder k�n dat worden gedaan, maar dat hoeft niet en niemand, zeker Turkije niet, zit te wachten op n�g een onzinnige oorlog, eentje met Syri�.

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Syria bloodshed spills over into Lebanon
(AFP) – 3 hours ago

DAMASCUS — The deadly unrest in Syria spilled over into Lebanon where a woman was killed at a border crossing as protests against President Bashar al-Assad's regime entered a third month on Sunday.

Gunfire from Syria raked a crowd at Al-Boqayah crossing near the town of Wadi Khaled, killing the Syrian woman and wounding five people including a Lebanese soldier, a Lebanese security official and an AFP correspondent said.

The shooting came as hundreds of Syrians fled violence in their homeland on foot into Lebanon.
At one point, an armed man in plainclothes waded towards Al-Boqayah across the river which marks the border but was turned back by Lebanese civilians and fled firing shots into the air.

The area around Al-Boqayah was later deserted apart from Lebanese soldiers, a Red Cross team and several reporters, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.

The latest incidents came as Pope Benedict XVI called for an end to the bloodshed in Syria and urged authorities and citizens to strive for a "future of peace and stability."

"I ask God that there be no further bloodshed in (Syria), this country of great religions and civilisations," the pope said after his weekly Angelus prayer in Rome's St Peter's Square.
Since Saturday, residents of the western Syrian town of Tall Kalakh, which is encircled by the Syrian army, have fled in their hundreds into nearby northern Lebanon.

According to a witness and a hospital worker in Tall Kalakh, security forces shot dead at least four people and wounded several others Saturday as thousands held a second day of anti-regime protests.

A witness in Tall Kalakh told AFP that residents had been treating the wounded in a small clinic rather than the town hospital to prevent the casualties from being arrested or "finished off."
Security forces on Saturday fired at a funeral convoy at an entrance to the town, killing the mother and wounding three family members of a victim of the clashes, according to the Tall Kalakh resident.

Al-Watan newspaper, which is close to the regime, said on Sunday that armed men had fled the cities of Banias and Homs and sought refuge in Tall Kalakh, while "fighters" from Lebanon had entered Syria.

Tall Kalakh was the scene of "heavy fighting" on Saturday night between the Syrian army and armed groups, the daily said.

The mayor of the Lebanese town of Moqaibleh, Rami Khazaal, estimated that almost 1,000 refugees had fled across the border into northern Lebanon on Saturday.
At least five were hospitalised with gunshot wounds, one of whom died, said a source at Qobbayyateh hospital said.

The latest bloodshed cast a pall over the government's pledges to forge ahead with reforms in Syria, where the first pro-reform protests broke out on March 15, and have triggered fresh condemnation from Western governments.

At least five people were killed in protests on Friday in the central city of Homs and a Damascus suburb, activists said, despite an order from Assad for security forces not to open fire.
Information Minister Adnan Mahmud announced later the same day that a "national dialogue" would be launched as soldiers withdrew from flashpoint cities and towns such as Banias on the Mediterranean coast and Daraa in southern Syria.

An activist in Banias, meanwhile, said tanks had been withdrawn from the town centre but security forces were still deployed on Sunday.

Up to 850 people have been killed and at least 8,000 arrested since the protests started in mid-March, human rights groups say. The regime has blamed the deadly violence on "armed terrorist gangs" and kept out the foreign media.

An editorial headlined "Game Over" in the government newspaper Tishrin commented on Sunday that it was clear the revolt was losing steam.

"The game is over and those betting on destroying Syria from within have failed without finding a way to sow discord," it said, dismissing the protesters as "suicidal" and "unconscious".

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Op zondag 15 mei 2011 13:40 schreef BeSimple het volgende:

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Ik denk dat dit vergelijkbaar is met Tunesie. Alleen het Tunesische leger schoot waarschijnlijk terug.

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Op zondag 15 mei 2011 13:56 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

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Als je niet uitkijkt krijgen we Libi� v 2.0.

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Op zondag 15 mei 2011 14:01 schreef BeSimple het volgende:

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No shit sherlock!

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Syri� veroordeelt Isra�lische beschietingen

De Syrische autoriteiten veroordelen de Isra�lische beschietingen van betogers bij de grens bij de Golanhoogvlakte, de Palestijnse gebieden en bij de grens met Libanon.

In een verklaring van het Syrische ministerie worden de beschietingen bestempeld als “criminele activiteiten”, meldt persbureau Reuters. Volgens het Syrisch staatspersbureau SANA houdt het ministerie de internationale gemeenschap verantwoordelijk voor de incidenten en noemt dit de bloedigste confrontatie in jaren.

Het Isra�lische leger voerde onder andere een aanval uit op een groep Syri�rs die de grens bij de Golanhoogvlakte wilde oversteken. Volgens een televisiezender werden hierbij zeker vier mensen gedood en raakten zeker zestig mensen aan beide kanten van de grens gewond. Het Isra�lische leger zei eerder dat er alleen waarschuwingsschoten zijn gelost.

Isra�l ziet Iraanse invloed bij incidenten

Het Isra�lische leger verdenkt Iran ervan de gevechten langs de noordelijke grens gearrangeerd te hebben, meldt de Isra�lische krant Haaretz.

Brigadier-generaal Yoav Mordechai bevestigt dat het Isra�lische leger het vuur opende op Palestijnse vluchtelingen die de grensstad Majdal Shams by Syri� binnendrongen. Een anonieme bron binnen de Isra�lische overheid ziet het incident ook als een “cynische en doorzichtige poging van Syri� om met opzet een crisis uit te lokken en de aandacht van de problemen thuis af te leiden.”

In eigen land heeft de Syrische president Bashar al-Assad al wekenlang te maken met demonstraties tegen hem en zijn regime. Assad wordt door de internationale gemeenschap bekritiseerd vanwege het inzetten van tanks tegen zijn eigen burgers. Volgens mensenrechtenorganisaties zijn bijna achthonderd mensen gedood door Syrische veiligheidsdiensten.

‘Dag van de Grote Ramp’

Vandaag vieren Isra�li�rs de verjaardag van de stichting van de staat Isra�l, een dag die door Palestijnen de “Dag van de Grote Ramp” genoemd wordt. Bij onlusten aan de Isra�lische grens zijn al ruim tien mensen omgekomen, tientallen Palestijnen proberen de grens met Isra�l over te steken.

Op meerdere plaatsen op de Westelijke Jordaanoever en in de Gazastrook worden vandaag marsen gehouden ter herdenking van de Nakba, de vlucht en verdrijving van de Palestijnen in 1948 toen Isra�l werd gesticht. Isra�l heeft de Westelijke Jordaanoever voor een dag afgesloten en de troepen van het leger staan op scherp.

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Op zondag 15 mei 2011 13:26 schreef remlof het volgende:

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Ik bedoelde meer dat Libanon echt zo'n staatje is dat door niemand serieus wordt genomen en continue wordt misbruikt door zowel Syri� als Isra�l. Op Turkije zouden ze niet zo snel schieten

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Op zondag 15 mei 2011 18:11 schreef Baghdaddy het volgende:

[..]

Libanon heeft best wat invloed hoor voor zo'n kleine staat. Vooral in Israel en Palestina.

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Assad's regime of torture
President Assad reaffirms his father's legacy by quelling dissent with brute force.
Hugh Macleod and a special correspondent Last Modified: 15 May 2011 14:30

"Bashar is God! Bashar is God!"

As the fists and boots and sticks pummelled his body and bloodied his face, the college student screamed out what he thought his interrogators wanted to hear: The name of Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad.

It worked. The secret policemen tired of beating him for the day and threw him back into the makeshift cell, a room inside the power station in Banias, where local prisons are full to bursting from a wave of arrests ahead of the military assault on the port city, which began earlier this month.

The respite was short-lived. Handcuffed by his wrists and ankles and blindfolded, the student, who gave testimony to a trusted local activist on condition of anonymity, was led to a car and driven to another torture cell.

"I was being beaten all over my body. I was bleeding and was saying the shahada to myself, ‘There is no God, but God,' because I thought I was going to die at that moment," he said.

'Rampant torture'

Arrested simply for trying to travel from Banias back home to his village on the outskirts of the city, the student had nothing valuable to tell his torturers about the organised political opposition to President Assad and his family's forty-year dictatorship.

But that, it appears, was not the point.

Where the torture cells of Tadmor, Syria's desert prison, once extracted confessions from individuals accused of standing against the Assads - Communists like Akram Bunni, left partially paralysed after his spine was stretched in a torture known as the German Chair; Muslim Brotherhood members whipped with cable and stunned with electric shock devices - today's torturers appear to be pursuing a policy of deterrence and collective punishment.

The student was released after only a few days, but the message to the wider community of Banias was clear: A naked body, covered in blood, left to limp along the long road back to his village, clutching his broken hand, for all to see.

Three other young men, beaten, thrown down stairs and forced to drink water from a toilet after being starved, were also dumped naked and bloodied on a road outside Banias.

A YouTube video, claiming to have been shot in Banias but which cannot be independently verified, shows men with signs of severe beating on their backs and faces.

"Syrian security is now releasing detainees with unhealed wounds caused by torture in order to spread panic and fear among people hoping it will reduce the numbers participating in demonstrations," said Wissam Tarif, Director of Insan, a leading Syrian human rights organisation, which has documented cases of torture.

Hundreds of disappearances

Across Syria a campaign of mass arrests since the uprising began in mid-March has seen more than 7,000 Syrians arbitrarily detained and thrown into prisons, according to a count by activists, contacting detainees' family and friends.

The detained include a wide cross section of society, mainly young men aged between 20 and 50, but including children and elderly, especially activists and those involved in protests or seen filming them, but also community leaders, imams and students.

In Deraa alone, state news reported some 500 people were arrested in one day, with security forces going door to door and seizing any male aged between 15 and 40. A recently leaked document, purportedly from Political Security, appears to confirm the mass arrests of males, including children, from Deraa.

The total arrests since mid-March are around twice the number of political prisoners the Syrian Human Rights Committee estimated were being held in Syria in 2006.

Human rights groups have documented hundreds more cases of people who disappeared in and around protest marches, with families left not knowing if their loved ones are dead or alive.

Enforced disappearance, when the state refuses to acknowledge the whereabouts of an arrested person, is a crime under international law.

Inside prison, detainees face what Human Rights Watch has described as "rampant torture".

In interviews with 19 Syrian detainees last month, including two women and three teenagers, Human Rights Watch found that all but two had been tortured, including being whipped with cable and stunned with electric-shock devices while drenched in cold water.

Amnesty International reported cases of detainees forced to lick blood off the floor of a prison and others who also drank toilet water after being starved for three days.

Insan said it has received numerous reports of torture where detainees have been left naked in groups for hours, doused in cold water before collectively being beaten.

"The use of unwarranted lethal force, arbitrary detention and torture appear to be the desperate actions of a government that is intolerant of dissent and must be halted immediately," said Philip Luther, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

President Assad signed Syria's ratification of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in 2004.

Yet with every black eye, broken bone and scream of pain, one of the world's most repressive regimes shows to what lengths it is prepared to go to keep the Assad family in power.

While activists have documented torture used as collective punishment and deterrence, there are still many cases where the security forces use it to extract information from an individual believed to pose a risk to regime stability.

Interrogations

Ali, an Allawite, the sect from which the Assad family and much of the ruling elite hail, was captured by secret police during a small protest in Mezze, a suburb of Damascus.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Ali said the beating began as soon as he was on the bus to prison. "You are Alawite and you don't like Bashar?" the police officer screamed at him. "Are you with the Salafis and the Muslim Brotherhood?"

The fist landed square in his face as Ali tried to explain that the protesters were not fundamentalist Salafi Muslims. Ali was taken to the notorious Air Force security branch in Bab Touma, a stone throw away from the Old City where tourists were enjoying the sights.

The interrogator had footage from the protest filmed on a phone, showing Ali chanting for freedom. "He got up and walked behind me, grabbed my hair and slammed my face into the table. He was really angry."

Ali's hands were tied behind his back while he was punched in the face repeatedly. "He told me to confess I was there, and who had organized it, and was it someone from outside Syria?"

Blindfolded, Ali was driven to another prison, where, still unable to see, he was beaten, pushed down stairs and had cigarettes stubbed out on his back. Again the interrogator wanted to know if he was allied with Islamist groups, this time Hezb ut-Tahrir.

By contrast, Abu Mohammed's interrogators appeared less certain who to blame for the uprising they were struggling to contain.

Arrested from his Damascus home in late March, the journalist was taken, along with his laptop and mobile phone, to a branch of Internal Security on Baghdad Street.

The cell was already filled with protesters rounded up that day.

"We were hundreds so it was hard for interrogators to deal with us. They are used to tens being arrested at a time, not hundreds," he said.

For the next sixteen days Abu Mohammed followed the same routine: Dragged into an interrogation room and punched in the face.

"The interrogators were simple and uneducated men, they just shouted at me and hit me if I disagreed. They didn't know what they wanted."

The journalist was asked for his email address. "He asked me what ‘Hotmail' means. I answered in a simple and direct way. The main thing I realised was to answer what they wanted to hear, not what I thought."

His father's footsteps

The uprising in Syria began with the torture of children: 15 boys, aged between 10 and 15, from Deraa, who were beaten and had their finger nails pulled out by men working for General Atef Najeeb, a cousin of President Assad.

Two months into the most serious threat to the decades-old dictatorship, the jails in some cities are already full. As well as holding prisoners in the power station in Banias, security forces have also begun using a local sports stadium to hold hundreds of detainees, according to eyewitness accounts gathered by activists.

The release of all political prisoners has become a unifying cry among protesters across the country, who began by calling merely for reform and an end to corruption and who now demand the toppling of the president and his regime.

Like the father from whom he inherited power, President Assad has sought to crush the uprising against him with force and mass arrests.

During a campaign of repression against the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood in the 1980s under late President Hafez al-Assad, some 17,000 Syrians disappeared, according to testimony to the United Nations Human Rights Council by Radwan Ziadeh, head of the Damascus Centre for Human Rights Studies.

And in a chilling parallel to the actions of his father, who responded to the Muslim Brotherhood uprising by sending tanks and ultra-loyal troops commanded by his brother to raze Hama, killing between 10,000 and 30,000 civilians, President Assad has laid siege to Deraa, Homs and Banias with tanks and troops commanded by his brother, Maher al-Assad.

Today, in two months of protests, Syrian security forces have killed an estimated 850 people.

On Wednesday, Syria dropped its bid to join the UN Human Rights Council, which has ordered a fact-finding mission to Syria to investigate human rights abuses.

After eight days in a windowless two by two meter dungeon deep underground, Ali was freed without charges. His wallet, with half the money stolen, was returned, but he was too weak to drive home so took a taxi to a friend's place, too ashamed to let his parents see.

"The worst is you don't know what will happen. You and your family have no idea what is going on," said Ali who, despite his experience, remains unbowed.

"I have seen personally the real ugly face of security, and it is much uglier than I thought. I will protest again because now I really realize what freedom means. If we give up now we will all be arrested again anyway."

*All names of prisoners have been changed for their own safety.
Bron: Aljazeera

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Activists: Massgrave found in Syria

Syria’s brutal crackdown against pro-democracy protests took a chilling turn on Monday with the discovery of a mass grave in Deraa, the town at the heart of protests roiling the country for two months, an activist said.

“The army today allowed residents to venture outside their homes for two hours daily,” said Ammar Qurabi of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria.

“They discovered a mass grave in the old part of town but authorities immediately cordoned off the area to prevent residents from recovering the bodies, some of which they promised would be handed over later,” he said on the phone from Cairo.

Mr. Qurabi said the Syrian regime must bear full responsibility for the crimes committed against “unarmed” citizens and urged the international community and civil society to pressure it to stop the “brutal repression” of its people.

He was unable say how many people were buried in the alleged mass grave.

His account could not be independently verified as Syrian authorities have all but sealed off the country to foreign journalists amid a brutal crackdown against unprecedented protests threatening the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Mr. Qurabi said that 34 people had also been killed in the past five days in the towns of Jassem and Inkhil, near Deraa.

“I fear that dozens more casualties may be lying in nearby wheat fields and orchards because families have not been able to access the region which is encircled by security troops and snipers,” he said.

The unrest in Syria first erupted in Damascus on March 15 but was promptly put down and soon spread to Deraa and across the country with protesters emboldened by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt.

More than 850 people, including women and children, have been killed and at least 8,000 arrested as security forces crack down on the protest movements, according to rights groups.

The bloodshed spilled into neighboring Lebanon at the weekend when a Syrian woman, among dozens fleeing the northwestern town of Tall Kalakh, was killed and six other people wounded, a Lebanese security official said.

Witnesses contacted by telephone also reported 10 people were killed on Sunday in Tall Kalakh, located near the Lebanese border, as security forces deployed inside the town.

Shelling and shooting was also reported in the nearby town of Arida, an activist told AFP.

Meanwhile hundreds of protesters and rights advocates detained in recent days were released on Sunday after signing pledges not to take part in further protests, said Rami Abdul-Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“Several of them said they had been tortured,” he said, adding that thousands of people remained jailed and more arrests were taking place.

The regime has blamed the deadly violence on “armed terrorist gangs” backed by Islamists and foreign agitators.

Dozens of Syrians who fled the violence in their hometowns gathered in north Lebanon on Monday to demand the fall of Mr. Assad’s regime, an AFP correspondent witnessed.

“The people want the fall of the regime,” chanted the group gathered in the village of Al-Boqayah, located along the border.

Most of the protesters hailed from the Syrian towns of Tall Kalakh and Arida.

“We don’t love you, Bashar,” and “Tall Kalakh, have no fear, we are with you,” they shouted.

The United Sates and European Union have responded to the unrest in Syria by imposing sanctions on members of President Assad’s inner circle but stopped short of targeting him personally.

Rights groups have called for harsher sanctions but there are fears that should Mr. Assad’s regime fall that would have serious ramifications for the region and could lead to civil war.

Human Rights Watch at the weekend accused the regime of pushing forth with its campaign to crush the pro-democracy protests by rounding up activists and holding many of them incommunicado while going after their families.

“Syria’s leaders talk about a war against terrorists, but what we see on the ground is a war against ordinary Syrians—lawyers, human rights activists, and university students—who are calling for democratic changes in their country,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director of the New York-based organization in a statement released Sunday.

“Syria’s emergency law may have been lifted on paper, but repression is still the rule on Syria’s streets.

“Behind the empty rhetoric of promises and national dialogue, there is a systematic campaign to rebuild Syria’s wall of fear with only one purpose: allowing (President Bashar) al-Assad and his cronies to maintain their absolute grip on power,” she added.

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Syrian forces beat dozens of university students

Associated Press= BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Syrian government agents chased students who were protesting against President Bashar Assad's regime at a northern campus Tuesday, beating them with batons and injuring dozens, a human rights activist said.

Mustafa Osso said the agents tried to break up a protest of about 2,000 students at the campus in Aleppo, Syria's largest city. He said many of the students were chased into their dormitories and badly beaten.

The university has seen several anti-regime demonstrations in the past weeks.

Also Tuesday, Syrian activists used Facebook to call for a general strike throughout Syria on Wednesday to protest the crackdown. One of the protesters' main Facebook pages, The Syrian Revolution 2011, had a picture of a child saying "father, your participation in the strike is a guarantee for my future."

Osso said security forces with clubs also dispersed a rally Monday of about 3,000 in the central city of Homs.

Syria's top rights organization has said that Assad's crackdown has killed more than 850 people nationwide since the turmoil engulfed the country in mid-March.

Assad's regime has used brutal military force to crush the unprecedented revolt, the most serious threat to his family's 40-year dynasty.

"There were no reports of shooting or tear gas being used," Osso said, apparently an attempt by authorities to avoid deaths among civilians.

Osso, head of the Kurdish Organization for the Defense of Human Rights and Public Freedoms in Syria, said there was little news from the western town of Talkalakh, which has been under siege by security forces since Thursday. He said residents of nearby areas were still hearing cracks of gunfire but it is not clear whether there were injuries.

At least 16 people — eight of them members of the same family — have been killed in recent days in Talkalakh, a town of about 70,000 residents, witnesses and activists say.

Talkalakh residents who fled the city to neighboring Lebanon over the past few days told The Associated Press about horrific scenes back home that include sectarian killings, gunmen carrying out execution-style slayings and the stench of decomposing bodies in the streets.

On Tuesday, scores of Syrians crossed into Lebanon and security officials said at least 170 people entered the country in the early hours of the day. They added that a 2-year-old girl who suffered a shrapnel wound in her chest was undergoing treatment in a Lebanese hospital.

On Monday, the National Organization for Human Rights said in a statement that at least 34 people were killed in the past five days in the villages of Inkhil and Jassem near the southern city of Daraa. Ammar Qurabi, the head of the human rights organization, said five bodies were discovered in Daraa on Monday, raising the overall death toll to 850.

There were also unconfirmed reports that up to 20 bodies were found in a grave there. Calls to Daraa on Monday seeking to verify the reports did not go through.

A Syrian Interior Ministry official dismissed reports about a mass grave in Daraa as "completely baseless." The unnamed official, quoted by state-run news agency SANA, said Tuesday that the "allegations came in the context of the campaign of provocation, slander and fabrication" against Syria.

The official said an "armed terrorist group" opened fire on a police vehicle in al-Bayadhah region in the central province of Homs, killing two policemen and wounding four others, including an army officer.

Assad has blamed the unrest on armed thugs and foreign agitators. He also has played on fears of sectarian strife to persuade people not to demonstrate, saying chaos will result.

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Journaliste Dorothy Parvaz is vrijgelaten door de Iraanse autoriteiten. De voor Al Jazeera werkzame verslaggeefster werd maandag op vrije voeten gesteld na negentien dagen geleden te zijn opgepakt in Syri�. Parvaz is daarop teruggekeerd naar Qatar, waar het hoofdkantoor van Al Jazeera gevestigd is.

Ze is gedurende haar gevangenschap goed behandeld, maar mocht geen contact met de buitenwereld hebben. Syri� bracht Parvaz later over naar Iran. Haar verloofde Todd Barker maakte de vrijlating, afgelopen maandag, vandaag bekend.

NRC-correspondent in Iran Thomas Erdbrink over de zaak rond de geboren Iraanse:

Parvaz (39), die ook over Amerikaanse en Canadese paspoorten beschikt, reisde op 29 april af naar Syri�, vanuit Qatar, waar Al Jazeera is gevestigd. Op 4 mei bevestigden bronnen binnen de Syrische autoriteiten dat ze was aangehouden, maar later werd gezegd dat ze al sinds 1 mei niet in Syri� was geweest. Sinds het begin van de opstanden in Syri� worden ten minste vijf journalisten vermist en zijn 750 mensen omgekomen.

Parvaz zei dat ze erg goed is behandeld tijdens haar gevangenschap en dat het goed met haar gaat, aldus Barker. Iran heeft niet bekendgemaakt waarom Parvaz werd vastgehouden. De journaliste is woonzaam in Vancouver alwaar ze zal herstellen van de gebeurtenissen.

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Ondanks hard optreden weer demonstraties in Syri�

Veiligheidstroepen hebben de afgelopen weken hard opgetreden in Syri�. Maar het mag niet baten, want in verschillende steden wordt vandaag opnieuw massaal gedemonstreerd tegen het bewind van president Bashar al-Assad. Tot nu toe is ��n dode gemeld.

In de kuststad Banias marcheren duizenden mensen door de stad ondanks de aanwezigheid van een groot aantal agenten en militairen, meldt het Syrische Observatorium voor Mensenrechten. In Banias is de grootste demonstratie bezig sinds de opstand negen weken geleden in Syri� begon.

Volgens getuigen zijn in de oostelijke stad Qamishli duizenden Koerden de straat opgegaan om democratie te eisen. En ook in de zuidelijke buitenwijk Hajar al-Aswad van Damascus zijn volgens getuigen veel mensen aan het betogen en wordt om het 'omverwerpen van het regime' geroepen.

In Homs schieten de troepen met scherp op de protesterende menigte, verklaarde een mensenrechtenactivist.

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Zeker 34 doden bij anti-Assad betogingen in Syri�

Ondanks grootschalige intimidatie zijn vandaag weer duizenden Syri�rs de straat opgegaan om tegen het regime van president Bashar al-Assad te betogen. De oproerpolitie schoot met scherp en gebruikte traangas om de mensenmassa's uiteen te jagen. Minstens 34 mensen werden gedood, aldus de oppositie.

In de stad Homs in het westen opende de oproerpolitie het vuur op de mensen toen ze na het middaggebed uit de moskee de straat opstroomden. Alleen al bij dit bloedbad kwam elf demonstranten om, aldus militanten uit de stad.

Tanks
In vele steden heeft het regime tanks laten aanrukken om de protesten de kiem in te smoren. Die laaien meestal op vrijdag, de wekelijkse rustdag van de moslims, op.

Grote massa's mensen demonstreerden ook in de stad Banias aan de Middellandse Zee en in Kamishli in het noordoostelijke Koerdisch gebied. De betogers scandeerden: "Bashar, stap op en laat ons leven!". Aan de rand van Damascus werden vele veiligheidstroepen ontplooid om demonstraties met geweld te verhinderen, aldus activisten.

Geheime politie
Ondertussen trok het leger zich na een week terug uit Tel Kalach. Duizenden mensen zijn uit schrik voor represailles van de geheime politie over de grens naar Libanon gevlucht. Volgens de ooggetuigen doodden de veiligheidstroepen er in een week tijd dertig mensen en pakten driehonderd anderen op. Troepen vielen daarentegen een andere grensplaats, Al-Arida, binnen.

De Syrische leiding veroordeelde inmiddels de toespraak van de Amerikaanse president Barack Obama, die gisteren Assad voor de keuze had gesteld "de hervorming (naar democratie) te beginnen of anders af te treden". Dit toont duidelijk hoezeer "de VS zich inmengt met Syrische binnenlandse aangelegenheden", stelde het staatspersagentschap Sana vandaag in een mededeling vast.

NAVO-tussenkomst
De NAVO sluit een militaire tussenkomst in Syri� met het oog op de dodelijke aanvallen door het leger, politie en geheime dienst op vreedzame demonstranten uit. De Noord-Atlantische Verdragsorganisatie heeft geen optreden gepland "ook als we de brutaliteit van de Syrische veiligheidstroepen en de ijzeren vuist tegen de burgerbevolking scherp veroordelen", zei NAVO-secretaris-generaal Anders Fogh Rasmussen in een interview met het Italiaanse persagentschap Ansa. De enige mogelijke uitweg voor het land is evenwel "toe te geven aan de legitieme eisen van het volk en een vreedzame overgang naar een democratie toe te laten".

Sinds het begin van de protesten in Syri� midden maart werden volgens schattingen van mensenrechtenorganisaties 761 burgers en 126 leden van de veiligheidstroepen gedood.

quote:

Op zaterdag 21 mei 2011 10:36 schreef Monidique het volgende:
Heel dapper van die Syriers. Ondanks weken van dodelijke repressie, blijven ze toch de straat op gaan. Is hier ondertussen niet hetzelfde als in Noord-Afrika aan de gaan, of eerder, kan men niet dezelfde vraag stellen: hoe stop je zoiets, als mensen nog steeds de straat op durven?

quote:

Op zaterdag 21 mei 2011 10:55 schreef rakotto het volgende:

[..]

Daar is men hier niet in ge�nteresseerd. Ze kunnen niets uit Syrie halen.

quote:

Op zaterdag 21 mei 2011 11:18 schreef Chooselife het volgende:

[..]

Dat is volstrekt verkeerd ingeschat. Rusland heeft daar een elementaire marinebasis. De enige die ze toegang verleent tot de Middelandse-Zee. Strategisch en�rm belangrijk.

quote:

Op zaterdag 21 mei 2011 10:55 schreef rakotto het volgende:

[..]

Daar is men hier niet in ge�nteresseerd. Ze kunnen niets uit Syrie halen.

quote:

Op zaterdag 21 mei 2011 12:02 schreef zuiderbuur het volgende:
E�n ding is me niet duidelijk: als Obama om de grenzen van 1967 te hanteren voor Isra�l, wat houdt dit dan in voor de Golan-hoogten? Dit is veroverd op Syri� in 1967 door Isra�l, en nadien geannexeerd. Als ik me niet vergis hebben ze ook paspoorten aangeboden aan de inwoners (wat niet het geval is voor de Gazastrook en de Westbank).

quote:

Op zaterdag 21 mei 2011 12:08 schreef rakotto het volgende:

[..]

Het blijft Syrisch grondbezit.

quote:

Op zaterdag 21 mei 2011 13:21 schreef rakotto het volgende:
Syrie wordt normaal tegenover Israel als de Golan terug is, simple as that. Dat lijkt me ook een verstandige keuze om toekomstige confrontaties te vermijden met de toekomstige regering.

quote:

Op zaterdag 21 mei 2011 13:21 schreef rakotto het volgende:
Syrie wordt normaal tegenover Israel als de Golan terug is, simple as that. Dat lijkt me ook een verstandige keuze om toekomstige confrontaties te vermijden met de toekomstige regering.

quote:

Op zaterdag 21 mei 2011 14:24 schreef johnnylove het volgende:
Toch denk ik dat Israel hier een kans heeft laat liggen op een liberale democratie in Syrie. In plaats om met angst te reageren, hebben ze een keer een kans om met moed te reageren. .

quote:

Government security forces and others in plain clothes have opened fire on a huge crowd of mourners in Homs killing at least two people and injuring more than twenty as they returned from funerals, an eyewitness told Al Jazeera.

More than 40,000 people gathered for the funerals of protesters killed yesterday and were walking back from the cemetery in Tal al Nasser on the outskirts of the city when security forces opened fire without warning.

The sound of gunfire and cries to help the wounded were audible over the phone as Al Jazeera spoke to the eyewitness.

The wounded have been taken to private clinics and homes as people fear the secret police will raid and arrests the injured from the main state hospital, he said, as they have done in previous such attacks.

quote:

Op zaterdag 21 mei 2011 16:12 schreef Monidique het volgende:
Schieten op begrafenisstoeten, het maakt niet uit, dood is dood, maar op de een of andere manier vind ik het zieker dan bij "gewone" demonstraties.

[..]

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/syria

quote:

Honoring the dead
43. Political mourning
44. Mock funerals
45. Demonstrative funerals
46. Homage at burial places

quote:

Op zaterdag 21 mei 2011 17:29 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]

Die begrafenissen zijn niet echt

Gene Sharp: Author of the nonviolent revolution rulebook
Blz 80:

[..]

quote:

Op zaterdag 21 mei 2011 17:37 schreef spoor4 het volgende:

[..]

Het ene sluit het andere niet uit. Een begrafenis/rouwen kan gelijktijdig een politiek protest zijn. Net zoals het vrijdagsgebed aangegrepen wordt om te protesteren. Mock funerals zijn ook niet nodig, er zijn daar genoeg daadwerkelijke doden te betreuren.

quote:

Op zaterdag 21 mei 2011 15:38 schreef Aloulou het volgende:

[..]

Een democratie in Syrie, Egypte of waar dan ook van de buurlanden is sowieso nadelig voor Israel. Vandaar dat men gewoon Assad graag wil laten zitten, ze weten immers dondersgoed dat als het volk middels vrije verkiezingen hun eigen leiders kiezen dat Israelische belangen er in de regio niet op vooruitgaan, op zijn zachtst gezegd. Egypte hetzelfde verhaal. Het moge duidelijk dat zijn dat democratische Arabische landen (al dan niet met een handicap) niet in het voordeel van Israel is. De Palestijnse kwestie zal zolang die niet redelijk wordt opgelost nooit vergeten worden namelijk en altijd de grote achilleshiel blijven in al die Arabische landen eromheen. In Tunesie en Egypte zie je vrij vaak nu na de revolutie Palestijnse vlaggen wapperen naast de nationale bij allerlei bijeenkomsten, en Libie, Syrie etc. zal dat niet anders zijn.

quote:

Op maandag 23 mei 2011 10:46 schreef andre347 het volgende:
Ik denk niet dat deze sancties veel nut hebben. Internationale druk heeft zo'n land altijd al gehad, dus hier ligt al-Assad niet wakker van.

quote:

Op maandag 23 mei 2011 12:21 schreef waht het volgende:

[..]

Ach, dit is een goede reden om tegoeden in Europa van dit regime te confisqueren.

quote:

Op maandag 23 mei 2011 12:22 schreef andre347 het volgende:

[..]

Maar zo'n dictator is toch niet dom om al zijn tegoeden in Europa te plaatsen? Hier krijg je hem echt niet klein mee..

quote:

Syrian business dries up after Assad's crackdown on dissent


Foreign investors are pulling out and tourists are staying away, adding greater pressure to Syria's frail economy

Apart from the tinkle of water from the fountain, all is silent in the courtyard of a boutique hotel in the old city of Damascus. "We're almost empty," says one employee. "Usually we'd be full, but tourists have stopped coming."

It's a view that is reinforced by travel agents serving Syria, who are reporting a dramatic slump in business, following record numbers last year.

As the protest movement against President Bashar al-Assad has accelerated, intensified and then reeled in the face of a brutal crackdown, tourist numbers have dried up - and the country has lost a vital source of income and foreign currency.

The impact on an already weakened economy is palpable. "I have made nothing this week," says one seller on the old city's Straight Street, adding that the situation was even worse in other cities.

After three months of unrest and crackdowns, tourism is not the only industry that is suffering. "The whole economy is grinding to a halt," says one local economic analyst, who asked for anonymity.

Some business owners have laid off workers, shortened working hours or reduced employees' pay. Small-scale traders say business is down while manufacturers report difficulties in getting their goods to market.

"I have to fly my goods out as I cannot rely on the road to be open or passable," says one clothing manufacturer. "It costs me so much more but I can't raise my prices."

Big businesses are also feeling the pain. Before the recent unrest, Syria's economy - based primarily on agriculture and manufacturing - was already struggling. Liberalisation since 2005 caused inflation to soar to 15% in 2008 and cheaper goods coming in from Turkey and China have forced many manufacturers out of business, especially textiles factories in Aleppo. Drought has also caused thousands to migrate to the cities from rural areas.

In recent years, Syria's government started to encourage foreign investment, with French supermarket Carrefour and the cafe chain Costa opening branches in the country.

But many foreign investors are starting to consider pulling out and the trend is likely to be accelerated by the imposition of international sanctions on Assad and other senior officials.

Qatar Electricity and Water has cancelled a $900m (�558m) project to build power plants. British companies are reported to be considering pulling out.

"Capital is flying out the country and the brain drain is increasing as some professionals look to relocate to Dubai and Paris," says the analyst. Dollars are scarce in Damascus and the Syrian pound has fallen on the black market. Shortages have not yet been reported, although rumours of a run on bread led to long queues at bakeries.

Economic woes, and the economic dominance of friends and relatives of the president, have been one of the sparks of the protests.

Much of the anger has focused on Rami Makhlouf, Assad's cousin whose interests in telecommunications, transport, banking, tourism, real estate and construction dominate the economy. Foreign and local investors are often forced to partner with Makhlouf, earning him the nickname Mr Ten Percent.

With protests failing to gain momentum, some opposition activists are looking to the Sunni merchants of Damascus and Aleppo for signs they might join the fray.

But business leaders remain wary and even the most disaffected are more likely to leave the country than protest, according to the analyst: "It is easier to go to Dubai than try to turn against the regime - they have too much to lose."

But Assad may only be putting off the inevitable. As the government seeks to appease protesters, it has reversed economic policy, stemming plans to cut subsidies and pledged pay rises and extra jobs in an already burgeoning public sector. This has found favour with some ordinary families but is unaffordable in the long term.

Inflation is almost certain to rise as the government signs up a company to print more money. Investor confidence has dropped and EU sanctions on Makhlouf, who is already under US sanctions, will make people wary of dealing with him.

"I want stability," says one shopkeeper in the new area of the city. "But if none of us can make money, maybe I will consider protesting."

quote:

Syria opposition battles rising frustration and internal divisions


Disorganisation and splits within activists' ranks said to deter others from joining movement

Syria's anti-government protesters are battling against internal divisions and growing frustration as the movement against President Bashar al-Assad's regime, now in its third month, appears to have reached a stalemate.

Unlike Egypt and Tunisia, where the leaders took their leave in a relatively swift and peaceful manner, protesters are realising that Syria's regime, willing to shoot dead hundreds and lock up thousands to hang on to power, is a harder nut to crack.

With the known death toll approaching 900 after 76 people were killed at the weekend, protesters are starting to reflect on what more they can do.

"We want to regain our dignity and liberty, and be able to choose our government freely. Other than that there is little agreement," said Waleed al-Bunni, a doctor and dissident currently in hiding.

There is disagreement about whether or not to negotiate with the government, what tactics to adopt for the street protests, and even whether the demonstrations began too soon.

"Maybe we should have waited and got better organised before we took to the streets," said one protester in his 20s in the central city of Homs. A middle-aged woman whose son is out protesting said she offered to send him to Egypt to learn from activists but "he and his friends were so enthused by the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia they couldn't wait".

But others said they had to take the opportunity presented by the initial victories of the Arab spring.

Many in urban centres are disconnected from a mainly rural uprising, and tribal groups have their own specific codes, requiring revenge for bloodshed, said a diplomat in Damascus.

When on 13 May the government said it would open a national dialogue – a pledge that looks increasingly insincere – opposition figures took different stances.

Older veteran figures such as Louay Hussein, an Alawite writer who met presidential emissaries, advocated negotiations.

But others, such as Razan Zeitouneh, a 35-year-old lawyer and activist, rejected any form of contact.

"I am adamantly opposed to dialogue before all violence is stopped and all political prisoners are released," she said.

This disorganisation has alienated some of those who would have joined the protest movement. Two months of action have polarised Syrians.

Those advocating change encompass all ages, levels of education and religions but predominantly young men are taking to the streets.

"I fear people see young men in tracksuits or look at people coming out in rural areas and don't see it as a movement that they relate to," said the middle-aged woman.

A university graduate and young professional in the capital said she would like change but "these people don't know what they want".

What started as disparate demands – outrage at the torture of a group of children in Deraa and corruption of the governor in Homs – crystallised as protesters became united in anger at violence meted out by the regime. But more recently, the lack of a common strategy is becoming more evident.

quote:

'Regime dumpt lijken in zee'
Uitgegeven: 25 mei 2011 17:40
Laatst gewijzigd: 25 mei 2011 17:34

ISTANBUL - Syrische veiligheidsdiensten stoppen lijken van opposanten van het regime in containers en laten die in de Middellandse Zee zinken. Dit hebben Syri�rs in Istanbul woensdag tegen functionarissen van de Turkse justitie gezegd.
� ANP

De circa dertig jonge Syri�rs die in het buitenland wonen, willen bij justitie in Istanbul een klacht wegens volkerenmoord indienen tegen de Syrische president Bashar al-Assad en 58 anderen.

De veiligheidsdiensten zouden in het afgelopen weekeinde vanuit de haven van Latakia containers met lijken in kleine schepen van de marine naar zee hebben gevaren en daar de containers tot zinken hebben gebracht.

Daar zouden ooggetuigen van zijn. Het regime zou zo voorkomen dat er massagraven worden ontdekt, zoals in de opstandige regio Deraa.

De oppositie stelt dat er achtduizend mensen worden vermist sinds massale protesten begonnen in maart.

Bron: Nu.nl

quote:

Op woensdag 25 mei 2011 21:14 schreef spoor4 het volgende:

[..]

quote:

Op woensdag 25 mei 2011 21:14 schreef spoor4 het volgende:

[..]

quote:

This is the story of a 13-year-old healthy boy named Hamza AlKhateeb. Hamza's cousin was killed on the hands on the Syrian regime a few days before he had decided to go out in a peaceful demonstration with other people in his area. He was arrested on April 29, 2011 by the Syrian regime forces. A month had passed by with his family not knowing where he is, or if or when will he be released. On May 27, 2011, he was released to his family as a dead body. Upon examining his body, the signs of torture are very clear. His skin was peeling off his hands and feet, and his neck was broken. There were a few bullets in his body that were used as a way of torture rather than to kill him with. Clear signs of severe physical abuse appeared on the body such as marks done with hands, sticks, and shoes. Hamza's penis was also cut off.

the story of a 13-year-old healthy boy named Hamza AlKhateeb

quote:

Op zaterdag 28 mei 2011 19:56 schreef Monidique het volgende:

[..]

the story of a 13-year-old healthy boy named Hamza AlKhateeb

Een klein, jong kind gemarteld en vermoord door het Baath-regime, dat tevens ook nog met tanks door de straten rijdt en burgers beschiet.

(Hoewel ik heb gehoord dat dit niet waar kan zijn, want we hebben Libi� de oorlog verklaard en dat heeft zo'n afschrikwekkend effect gehad dat dictators het wel uit hun hoofd laten dit soort dingen te doen.)

quote:

Op zaterdag 28 mei 2011 19:56 schreef Monidique het volgende:

(Hoewel ik heb gehoord dat dit niet waar kan zijn, want we hebben Libi� de oorlog verklaard en dat heeft zo'n afschrikwekkend effect gehad dat dictators het wel uit hun hoofd laten dit soort dingen te doen.)

quote:

Op zaterdag 28 mei 2011 21:32 schreef waht het volgende:

[..]

Dictators investeren liever in luchtafweergeschut dan in een vrijer land. Dat laatste zou immers hun absolute macht ondermijnen, dat eerste zou tenminste hun gemoedstoestand iets verbeteren. Tevergeefs want het is geen partij voor een willekeurige Westerse luchtmacht. Je wil als dictator simpelweg onaantrekkelijker dan je buurland zijn om aan te vallen. Op dit moment zijn de Westerse landen lekker aan het bezuinigen en in de weer met andere landen dus Assad heeft steeds minder te vrezen uit het Westen.

quote:

Op zondag 29 mei 2011 05:17 schreef Monidique het volgende:

[..]

O, ja, absoluut. Maar dat is niet wat ik hoorde, ik heb namelijk gehoord dat de
Libische terreurcampagne ervoor zou zorgen dat ze in Syri� geen tanks zouden toelaten.

quote:

Syrische troepen vallen steden aan

Syrische regeringstroepen en tanks hebben vandaag de aanval ingezet op de twee centraal gelegen steden Rastan en Talbiseh. Dat zeggen Syrische activisten.

Alle wegen richting de twee steden zijn afgesloten door troepen van het Syrische regime. Gewelddadig ingrijpen van ordetroepen heeft de afgelopen twee maanden al aan meer dan duizend demonstranten het leven gekost, zeggen Syrische burgerrechtengroepen.

quote:

Report: Syrian soldiers shot by fellow comrades

Al-Jazeera TV airs video showing Syrian soldiers bleeding after reportedly refusing to fire at protestors

Al-Jazeera TV aired video footage on Sunday which shows Syrian soldiers bleeding. According to the report, which could not be confirmed, the soldiers were shot by their comrades after refusing to open fire at protestors in the city of Daraa.

Al-Jazeera reported that soldiers from Syria's 4th Division under Maher Assad's command shot their friends.

It was also claimed that the injured soldiers were taken to a house in the city, where locals tried to treat them. There have been numerous reports about the Syrian army executing soldiers who refuse orders in the last few weeks.

Meanwhile, human rights activists and eye witnesses reported Sunday that Syrian forces backed by tanks and helicopters entered the city of Rastan and killed two people. An activist said at least three people were killed in Tabliseh.

It was also reported that soldiers broke into houses in the two towns and began performing mass arrests. Gunfire was heard across the towns and helicopters were seen circling the skies

quote:

@sate3
Sate Hamza ساطع
- @assafir: "AP: activists said people from Rastan & Talbiseh armed with machine guns & RPG rockets opened fire on security forces" #Syria

quote:

@Israeli_Mossad
Anonymous M
#Syria #ArabSpring First occurrence in Syria: civilians fired on military forces using rifles and RPG.
6 hours ago via web

quote:

Op dinsdag 31 mei 2011 13:06 schreef Aloulou het volgende:
Het is wel opmerkelijk dat Assad de inmiddels grootschalige protesten al meer dan 2 maanden gewoon niet de kop krijgt ingedrukt. Want hij heeft een vrij loyaal (ogend) leger tot zijn dienst met lotgenoten die het echt niet gaan toestaan dat ze worden afgezet. Daarnaast heeft hij het land goed weten af te schermen van de media maar toch lukt het niet ondanks vrij zwaar geschut wat hij na 5 weken al begon in te zetten (tanks etc).

quote:

Op dinsdag 31 mei 2011 18:35 schreef Monidique het volgende:

[..]

Het is ongelooflijk moedig van die burgers. Ik zou er niet meer staan, als ueberhaupt al.

quote:

Op dinsdag 31 mei 2011 18:35 schreef Monidique het volgende:

[..]

Het is ongelooflijk moedig van die burgers. Ik zou er niet meer staan, als ueberhaupt al.

quote:

Dodental vrijdagprotesten Syri� naar 63, massale rouw in Hama

Het aantal doden dat gisteren viel bij demonstraties in verschillende Syrische steden is volgens mensenrechtenorganisatie Sawasiah opgelopen tot 63. In de centrale stad Hama waren vanmiddag weer ongeveer honderdduizend man op de been.

De tienduizenden inwoners waren op straat om de slachtoffers die gisteren bij anti-regeringsprotesten in de stad te begraven. In Hama zouden gisteren 53 betogers door veiligheidstroepen zijn doodgeschoten. Een mensenrechtenactivist uit de stad beschreef het ingrijpen door de troepen als ‘een ware slachting’.

De begrafenisoptochten van vanmiddag zijn volgens het Syrische Observatorium voor Mensenrechten vreedzaam verlopen. De veiligheidstroepen zouden zich niet hebben laten zien en de rouwende menigte ongemoeid hebben gelaten. Wel zouden de autoriteiten het internetverkeer in Hama hebben platgelegd.

Hoewel de meeste slachtoffers in Hama vielen waren er ook in andere delen van Syri� doden. In de centraal gelegen stad Rastan zouden zeven mensen zijn omgekomen, in de noordwestelijke provincie Idlib twee en in hoofdstad Damascus ��n. Door de 63 doden die gisteren vielen was het ��n van de bloedigste dagen van de al maanden durende volksprotesten tegen het regime van president Al-Assad.

quote:

An eyewitness has confirmed that a plainclothes member of the military secret police was killed at a funeral today in Hama.

The activist told Al Jazeera that the incident took place during the funeral of one of the protesters from yesterday at the Freheen cemetery.

He said that someone had recognised the police officer and that as he pulled his handgun out, mourners stopped him and found his military ID card.

The activist didn’t see the killing, as there were many people in front of him, but said that mourners had strung him up by the neck at the gate of the cemetery after they had killed him.

quote:

Op woensdag 1 juni 2011 16:01 schreef andre347 het volgende:
http://www.huffingtonpost(...)killed_n_869314.html

Bericht met beelden van Hamza. Vrij schokkend.

quote:

Op zaterdag 4 juni 2011 14:41 schreef Monidique het volgende:
Als je kijkt naar de rest van de regio, dan kun je je niet voorstellen dat de demonstraties zullen stoppen. Het is gelukt in Bahrein, tijdelijk, maar daar komt het ook weer naar boven. Het nadeel voor de burgers is dat het leger nog vrij een en op hand van het regime lijkt te zijn. Toch, hoe kan dit niet blijven escaleren?

quote:

Op zaterdag 4 juni 2011 15:52 schreef waht het volgende:

[..]

Het geeft aan hoe wreed dictaturen zijn als men liever wordt neergeschoten dan nog een dag in zo'n systeem moet leven. Dat is een verschil van dag en nacht met 'onze' wereld, daarom zijn de insinuaties dat we hier ook in opstand moeten komen ronduit belachelijk en een complete bagatellisering van het leed in de MENA-landen.

quote:

Op zaterdag 4 juni 2011 15:52 schreef waht het volgende:

[..]

Het geeft aan hoe wreed dictaturen zijn als men liever wordt neergeschoten dan nog een dag in zo'n systeem moet leven. Dat is een verschil van dag en nacht met 'onze' wereld, daarom zijn de insinuaties dat we hier ook in opstand moeten komen ronduit belachelijk en een complete bagatellisering van het leed in de MENA-landen.

quote:

Op zondag 5 juni 2011 09:13 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]

Dat is het niet. Westerse leiders zijn medeplichtig aan deze regimes en aan hun onderdrukking. En ze regeren met onze stem en ons belastinggeld. De enige reden dat er in Libi� wordt ingegrepen is de westerse publieke opinie.

quote:

Op zondag 5 juni 2011 10:47 schreef Monidique het volgende:

[..]

Er is geen enkele Westerse leider medeplichtig aan de misdaden in Syrie. Assad en zijn boeven zijn ervoor verantwoordelijk. Om het in jouw termen misschien wat beter uit te leggen: je liegt.

quote:

Op zondag 5 juni 2011 10:52 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]

De regimes hadden nooit kunnen bestaan zonder steun van het Westen.

quote:

Op zondag 5 juni 2011 12:39 schreef johnnylove het volgende:

[..]

Welke regimes?

Die van Libie?
Die van Egypte? (Nasser, Sadat)
Die van Irak?
Die van Iran?
Die van Syrie?
Die van Jemen?

quote:

Op zondag 5 juni 2011 13:33 schreef johnnylove het volgende:


En natuurlijk Israel...Al het slechte in het MO is de schuld van Israel.

quote:

Op zondag 5 juni 2011 13:33 schreef johnnylove het volgende:
Wat wil je nu daar mee zeggen?

quote:

Op zondag 5 juni 2011 13:33 schreef johnnylove het volgende:
Wat wil je nu daar mee zeggen? Dat bepaling van grenzen dit allemaal heeft aangewakkerd? Moet je eens naar Belgie kijken.

Goedkope olie?? Wordt bepaald door wereldhandel. Weet je wie de grootste afnemer van Olie in Venezuela is?

Het tegenhouden van Afrikaanse vluchtelingen was alleen in Libie de laatste jaren. Of vluchten ze eerst naar het MO en dan naar EUR?

En natuurlijk Israel...Al het slechte in het MO is de schuld van Israel.

quote:

Op zondag 5 juni 2011 13:47 schreef rakotto het volgende:

[..]

Hij heeft gelijk. Al die landen (Dictators) zijn altijd gesteund door het westen. Waarom denk je anders dat de lage klassen het westen haat? Om religie? Nee, maar om de steun die tientallen jaren heeft plaatsgevonden door het westen.

Iedereen weet dat het dictators zijn en toch hielpen/helpen zij hun. Kijk bijvoorbeeld naar dat gedrocht in Saudie Arabie.

quote:

Op zondag 5 juni 2011 13:47 schreef rakotto het volgende:

[..]

Hij heeft gelijk. Al die landen (Dictators) zijn altijd gesteund door het westen. Waarom denk je anders dat de lage klassen het westen haat? Om religie? Nee, maar om de steun die tientallen jaren heeft plaatsgevonden door het westen.

quote:

Op zondag 5 juni 2011 13:59 schreef johnnylove het volgende:

[..]

Dat landen elkaar steunen dmv economische hulp is toch vrij normaal in mijn optiek. Het Westen ondersteund geen mensen of organisaties maar landen. Kijk eens naar Oost Europa en hoe zich dat ontwikkeld.

Dat leiders van landen daar anders mee omgaan is dan de schuld van het Westen?

Dat de leiders alles in eigen zak hebben gestoken en niet hebben ge�nvesteerd in het land is dat de schuld van het Westen?

En wat betreft SA moeten wij daar ons helemaal uit terugtrekken? Of wil je een massale aanval op dat land doen om een regime change door te voeren? Kijk eens naar Irak.

quote:

Het Westen weet dat het vreselijke dictators zijn, maar toch blijven ze hen steunen. Alsof het Westen geen idee had van de leefsituatie in Tunesi�/Egypte.

quote:

Op zondag 5 juni 2011 14:57 schreef johnnylove het volgende:

[..]

Wat had je dan verwacht? Helemaal niks doen en daarmee Westers geld en kennis naar die landen niet toe te exporteren? Had je liever invloed gehad vanuit bv Iran, of net als vroeger Rusland? Waren daarmee die dictators dan niet aan de macht gebleven?

Wereld draait gewoon door.

En over 10 jaar hoe wil je dan de leefsituatie verbeteren van die mensen? Uit eigen kracht. Psst daar hebt je andere landen voor nodig. Gaat dat je lukken vanuit het Verre Oosten?

quote:

Schietpartijen en stakingen in Syri�


Het Syrische leger heeft het vuur geopend op een groep van 7000 betogers die een standbeeld van de vorige president omver wilde trekken in de oostelijke stad Deir al-Zor, meldden bewoners vandaag. Bij de actie vielen meerdere gewonden.

'Het zes meter hoge standbeeld is het enige beeld dat nog overeind staat in de stad. Alle andere bustes en standbeelden zijn al omver getrokken', zei een lokale arts zondag.

Elders in Syri�, in de stad Hama, is vandaag een staking uitgebroken. De stakers willen zo de tientallen betogers herdenken die de afgelopen tijd zijn doodgeschoten door het leger. 'We zijn een driedaagse staking begonnen voor de gevallen martelaren', zei een inwoner van Hama, circa 210 kilometer ten noorden van de hoofdstad Damascus. 'Alles is gesloten, zelfs de supermarkten.'

Begrafenis
In de noordwestelijke stad Jisrash Shughur zijn ten minste 25 mensen omgekomen bij gevechten in de laatste 24 uur, meldde een Syrische mensenrechtenactivist Rami Abdel Rahman vandaag vanuit Londen. Volgens hem zijn het 19 burgers en 6 veiligheidsagenten. Een andere activist had gisteren gemeld dat de veiligheidstroepen in de stad vrijdag het vuur hadden geopend op op ruim 1000 demonstranten die betoogden na de begrafenis van een burger in de nabijgelegen stad Has.

Gisteren hadden circa 100.000 bewoners in de stad geprotesteerd tegen de Syrische regering.

quote:

Syria death toll rises amid violent government crackdown on protests

Bloodiest weekend of uprising yet as al-Assad regime attempts to quell news by cutting off internet in major cities

Syria has experienced one of its bloodiest weekends since the start of the uprising, with details emerging today of a violent crackdown on Friday despite the government's attempt to stop news spreading by cutting off the internet in major cities.

Across the country, an estimated 90 people were killed on Friday, with dozens more dying since. Residents of the western town of Jisr al-Shughourin said at least 35 people had been killed there since Saturday.

The crackdown continued today, with activists reporting gunfire and tanks moving into the town of Khan Shikhon in the north-west province of Idlib.

Rights groups say more than 1,200 people have died and more than 10,000 have been detained in Syria since March .

Videos from Friday show what appears to be some of the biggest rallies yet, as well as graphic scenes of violence. One, purportedly to be from the roof of al-Karak mosque in Deraa shows five men with their heads smashed lying in pools of blood. Another shows a man in plain-clothes open fire on unarmed protesters in the city of Hama, where most of at least 90 people shot dead on Friday were killed; the city was calmer on Saturday when thousands of people gathered for funerals, activists said.

Going back to 1982 in Hama, between 10,000 and 30,000 people were killed when Syria's then president, Hafez al-Assad, father of the current president, Bashar al-Assad, ordered security forces to put down an Islamist uprising in the city with artillery fire.

State media agency, Sana, reported that four policemen were killed by armed terrorist groups who attacked state buildings and police stations in Jisr al-Shughour. It did not mention a video posted by some which purports to show Hama protesters hanging a man, apparently a security policeman, found among mourners at a funeral on Saturday. Activists say the video has not been verified, but acknowledge that a small minority of protesters are fighting back.

At least four children were among those killed at the weekend, the Local Coordinating Committees, a network of local opposition committees, said. Friday's protests were called "Freedom for Children Friday" in memory of at least 72 children killed since the protests began in mid-March. Outrage has grown over the death of 13-year-old Hamza al-Khateeb, whose body was handed back to his parents last week with marks of severe torture.

"We are all mothers of Hamza al-Khateeb" reads one of the banners held by women shown in a video of a sit-in at a private home.

Meanwhile, rights groups say around 500 people have been released from prison under an amnesty announced last week as the government continues to say it is making preparations for a national dialogue. Opposition members and analysts have branded the moves as insincere in intention, and do not go far enough.

A gathering of opposition members last week in Turkey described Assad's rule as unsustainable, given the brutality of the regime towards its citizens. A statement on Friday at the end of the four-day conference called on Assad to "resign immediately" and to hand authority to his vice-president "until the election of a transitional council".

The decision to cut the internet on Friday appears also to have backfired, irritating Syrians and drawing condemnation from the US.

On Saturday, the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, criticised the internet blackout, saying that "Syria must understand that attempting to silence its population can't prevent the transition taking place".

However, despite growing criticism by western governments, they have stopped short of calling on Assad to step down. A draft UN security council resolution has yet to be put to the vote, with opposition coming from China and Russia.

SPOILER

Om spoilers te kunnen lezen moet je zijn ingelogd. Je moet je daarvoor eerst gratis Registreren. Ook kun je spoilers niet lezen als je een ban hebt.

quote:

Op zondag 5 juni 2011 20:51 schreef KurdKasim het volgende:
Syria is wel wat gecompliceerder dan Egypte en Tunesie, het valt dus te bezien of deze opstand zal slagen.

quote:

Op zondag 5 juni 2011 20:51 schreef KurdKasim het volgende:
Syria is wel wat gecompliceerder dan Egypte en Tunesie,

quote:

Op zondag 5 juni 2011 14:05 schreef Monidique het volgende:

[..]

Het Syrische regime is niet gesteund door het Westen, in tegendeel.

quote:

Betogers gedood bij Isra�lisch-Syrische grens
Aan de grens tussen Isra�l en Syri� zijn doden gevallen toen de Isra�lische strijdkrachten schoten op pro-Palestijnse betogers. De demonstranten probeerden vanuit Syri� de bezette Golanhoogte binnen te dringen.

Volgens de Syrische autoriteiten zijn 18 mensen om het leven gekomen en raakten 220 mensen gewond. Volgens Isra�l zijn er 12 mensen gedood.

Extra bewaking

Isra�l had aan de Syrische grens al extra bewaking ingesteld uit vrees voor problemen met pro-Palestijnse betogers. Het is vandaag Naksa-dag, de dag waarop in de Arabische landen de nederlaag tegen Isra�l wordt herdacht in de zesdaagse oorlog van 1967.

Isra�l veroverde toen onder meer de Golanhoogte, een gebied dat Syri� terug wil hebben. Libanon claimt ook een deel van de Golan.

Vorige maand bestormden Libanese en Syrische betogers de grens met Isra�l bij een andere herdenking. Toen vielen er vijftien doden en tientallen gewonden.

quote:

Iedereen gaat maar voort op wat men hoort in de Belgische media. Met welke bron? Op Radio 2 en 1 hoor ik 'een mensenrechtenorganisatie in Syri�'. Welke mensenrechtenorganisatie?
Maar is er hier iemand die het nieuws volgt op de Syrische TV? Al Jazeera? Waarschijnlijk niet.
Klein voorbeeldje van gisteren: op de Syrische staatszender laat men beelden zien van betogingen in verschillende steden. Als commentaar zegt men erbij dat er 'beperkte betogingen' zijn. Geminimaliseerd dus. Even later op Al Jazeera: 'De Syrische regering ontkent dat er betogingen zijn'. Minimaliseren en ontkennen zijn nog steeds niet hetzelfde, toch?

De vader van de jongen van 13 die vermoord is, was bij Assad, op uitnodiging, die heeft hem beloofd dat hij de schuldigen voor zijn dood zal opsporen en straffen, dat hij de dode jongen ziet als zijn eigen zoon. Als die vader er zo van overtuigd is dat Assad daar iets mee te maken heeft zou hij dan op zijn uitnodiging ingegaan zijn? Ik zeer zeker niet. Een arts heeft ook verklaard dat de vlekken die te zien waren op het lichaam van de jongen tekenen van ontbinding zijn, volgens de oppositie zijn het tekenen van marteling.

Beelden van betogingen op tv, mensen schreeuwen leuzen dat ze vrijheid willen, democratie. Door de reporter wordt dat vertaald dat ze het aftreden van de president willen.

In het begin van de opstanden:
Mensen verklaren dat ze zagen hoe men bloed uit kannen verspreidden op straat. Om achteraf te laten zien waar mensen door de regeringstroepen neergeschoten waren?
Er zijn dode soldaten: de regering zegt dat betogers op hen schieten en zij terugschieten, de oppositie zegt dat het soldaten waren die zich tegen het regime keerden en andere soldaten schoten hen daarom neer. Wie spreekt de waarheid?
Betogers worden neergeschoten door mannen in burgerkleding vanuit een witte pick-up truck. Volgens de oppositie zijn het soldaten, volgens de regering waren het geen soldaten.
Wie moeten we geloven?

Ik ben met een Syri�r getrouwd, die volgt de media op de voet, via verschillende kanalen behalve die van hier, die zijn veel te eenzijdig.
Gisteren belde hij naar zijn familie, zijn moeder vertelde dat er betogingen waren in hun omgeving. Voor Assad. Niet tegen. Die zijn er ook, iets van gezien in onze media?

Er is dinsdag door Assad een algemene amnestie aangekondigd, zelfs voor moslimbroeders waarvoor lidmaatschap eigenlijk gelijk is aan doodstraf.

Als ik op onze tv en radio berichten hoor neem ik die dus met een korreltje zout. Men gaat zeer ver aan BEIDE kanten. De meeste Syri�rs willen verandering, absoluut. Maar alles wat mis gaat op Assad schuiven, die trouwens nog maar 11 jaar president is en niet almachtig, is misschien toch wat overdreven.
Syri� heeft trouwens 21 miljoen inwoners. Ik zou dat toch verwachten dat ze wat massaler en op meer plaatsen op straat zouden komen.

Wat ik verder nog hoor is dat de opstanden vooral geregisseerd worden door Syri�rs die al vele jaren niet meer in hun land wonen. Vanuit Turkije bijvoorbeeld. En dat de bevolking, als er dan toch iemand anders aan de macht moet komen, die mannen niet wil. Ze willen mensen die begaan zijn met hun land, niet diegenen die het jaren geleden de rug hebben toegekeerd.

Ik steun geen van beide kanten, ik ben geen Syrische, ik ben ginder nog nooit geweest, zie nergens betrouwbare informatie en ik ga geen mening vormen aan de hand van de bronnen die hier in de media worden genoemd. Het enige wat ik weet dat het er aan beide kanten niet zuiver aan toegaat en dat de overgrote meerderheid van de bevolking liefst heeft dat de 'rust' gewoon terugkeert... ze vonden het vroeger niet denderend maar nu zeker niet beter.

quote:

Nieuwe wet Syri�: meer vrijheid politieke partijen


De Syrische regering werkt aan een nieuwe wet die meer vrijheid moet geven aan politieke partijen, als onderdeel van de hervormingen. Dat meldt het staatspersbureau Sana vandaag.

Waarnemers betwijfelen of politieke partijen met de nieuwe wet beter af zijn. Ze verwachten dat de top van de regerende Baathpartij zijn monopoliepositie niet zal afstaan. Andere beloofde hervormingen komen tot nu toe nauwelijks van de grond.

President Bashar al-Assad regeert Syri� sinds 2000. Zijn Baathpartij is sinds 1963 aan de macht. Het bewind van Assad staat onder druk door protesten, die ondanks het harde regeringsingrijpen aanhouden.

quote:

‘Veertig Syrische politiemannen gedood door gewapende bendes’

Bij een hinderlaag hebben gewapende bendes vandaag zeker veertig Syrische politiemannen gedood in de noordelijke stad Jisr al-Shughour. Dat meldt de Syrische staatstelevisie.

In de stad worden volgens persbureau AP al dagenlang demonstraties tegen het regime van president Bashir Al-Assad met dodelijk geweld onderdrukt. Mensenrechtenorganisaties schatten dat er minstens 35 burgerslachtoffers in Jisr al-Shughour zijn gevallen sinds zaterdag. Onbevestigde berichten van inwoners en demonstranten melden dat telefoonlijnen en internetverbindingen zijn platgelegd.

Dit zijn mogelijk (schokkende) beelden van gewonde demonstranten in Jisr al-Shughour:

Jisr Al Shagour Massacre 5th June جسرالشغور p3

Sinds maart zouden volgens mensenrechtengroeperingen zeker 1200 mensen zijn omgekomen door het gewelddadige optreden van de regering van al-Assad tegen de antiregeringsbetogingen in het land

Volgens het bericht op de staatstelevisie kwamen in eerste instantie twintig politiemannen om bij een hinderlaag in de stad, waarna gewapende bendes een postkantoor opbliezen waar nog eens twintig agenten omkwamen. Militanten zouden zich in huizen verschansen en het vuu openen op veiligheidsdiensten en burgers.

Omdat er nauwelijks journalisten in Syrie zijn, is berichtgeving vanuit het land lastig te vergaren en te controleren.

quote:

Op maandag 6 juni 2011 18:23 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]

quote:

Attack kills 120 Syrian forces; crackdown feared

The Associated Press

BEIRUT — Armed men killed 120 Syrian security forces and torched government buildings Monday in a northern region where troops have unleashed deadly assaults on protesters for days, Syria said. The government vowed to respond "decisively," hinting at an even more brutal crackdown by a regime known for ruthlessly crushing dissent.

If confirmed, the attack in the north would be a turning point in what so far has largely been a peaceful uprising threatening the 40-year rule of President Bashar Assad and his family.

quote:

Op maandag 6 juni 2011 23:09 schreef Rambolin het volgende:
120 Syrische soldaten gedood? Liegt het Syrische regime? Of is Isra�l misschien betrokken bij deze aanval vanwege de Golan-demonstratie?

[..]

http://www.ajc.com/news/n(...)0-syrian-968553.html

quote:

Op maandag 6 juni 2011 23:09 schreef Rambolin het volgende:
120 Syrische soldaten gedood? Liegt het Syrische regime? Of is Isra�l misschien betrokken bij deze aanval vanwege de Golan-demonstratie?

[..]

http://www.ajc.com/news/n(...)0-syrian-968553.html

quote:

Op maandag 6 juni 2011 23:43 schreef Lagrinta het volgende:
Ik wilde eigenlijk met de Alpen Kreuzer naar Syri� deze zomer, is dit nog verstandig?

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Op maandag 6 juni 2011 23:37 schreef YellowBlacks het volgende:

[..]

En nu zijn er al mensen die met hun vinger wijzen naar Israel. Opstandelingen zitten hier gewoon achter.

quote:

Here is Al Jazeera's Rula Amin's update on reports that Syria will send in army after 120 troops killed.

"We heard from activists, people are fearing a big-scale military operation on their people and in their town. Government said that there were hundreds of armed groups using mid-sized weapons such as grenades.

"It appears that the government had made up its mind, its priority is to to contain the situation inside Syria. It sees many forces outside, such as US, Israel and some Arab regimes, to be working to weaken the regime, they feel it's a do-or-die battle and they will fight it to end."

quote:

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, facing protests against his rule, has invited representatives from Kurdish parties for talks in a bid to win backing from Syria's restive Kurds, a Turkish news report said on Tuesday.

Assad invited representatives from 12 Kurdish parties, including the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party's (PKK) Syrian offshoot the Democratic Unity Party (PYD), the Milliyet daily reported. The parties accepted Assad's invitation, the report also said.

The Kurdish representatives are expected to propose the establishment of a Kurdish autonomous region near the border with Turkey during the meeting. It was not clear when the talks would take place.

Assad has been facing protests against his rule for nearly three months. Rights groups say about 1,000 people have been killed in a harsh crackdown by Syrian security forces to quell the unrest. In an effort to respond to the protesters' demands, Assad has promised reforms and announced an amnesty for political prisoners, including Kurdish activists held in the country's prisons. Assad has also promised Syrian citizenship for more than 500,000 stateless Kurds.

quote:

Op dinsdag 7 juni 2011 15:32 schreef KurdKasim het volgende:

[..]

Bron is Today's Zaman.

quote:

Op dinsdag 7 juni 2011 15:35 schreef remlof het volgende:
“The army split; the confrontation is between them,” said Saeb Jamil, a local activist who said he was helping people flee to the nearby Turkish border. “The army is confronting the army.”

Uit: Syria, Claiming Heavy Toll in Town, Hints at Retaliation

Een groot gedeelte van het leger schaart zich kennelijk achter de demonstranten. Dit wordt gewoon een burgeroorlog.

quote:

‘Syrische ambassadeur stapt op uit protest tegen gewelddadigheden regering’

De Syrische ambassadeur in Frankrijk heeft tijdens een uitzending van omroep France 24 bekendgemaakt haar functie neer te leggen. Dat doet zij uit protest tegen het harde optreden van de regering tegen Syrische burgers, meldt persbureau Reuters. Volgens AP ontkent Chakkour op de Syrische staatstelevisie die berichten en dreigt zij met een rechtszaak tegen France 24.

Ook tijdens een telefoongesprek met televisiestation Al-Arabiya ontkende Chakkour dat zij is opgestapt als ambassadeur. Door de tegenstrijdige berichtgeving is het nog onduidelijk of Chakkour daadwerkelijk ontslag heeft genomen. Als zij dit doet, is zij de eerste Syrische diplomaat die uit onvrede met de crisis in Syri� opstapt. En dat is interessant, zegt NRC-buitenlandredacteur Carolien Roelants, want misschien volgen er dan wel meer leden van het regime van president Bashar al-Assad:


“Je zag in Libi� ook dat nadat de eerste diplomaat opstapte, als een gek andere hoge ambtenaren en ministers overliepen naar het kamp van de opstandelingen. Als het waar is dat Chakkour opstapt is dit erg interessant. Want in de twee maanden dat er hevige gevechten zijn in Syri� was er nog niemand die ontslag nam. Dit zou het begin kunnen zijn van meer mensen die uit het regime van Assad opstappen. Het is ook interessant dat Chakkour haar ontslag op de Syrische staatstelevisie zou ontkennen. Het kan zijn dat de staatstelevisie mooi weer probeert te spelen.”

Op France 24 zei Chakkour (video) dat zij “de eisen van het Syrische volk voor democratie en vrijheid erkent”. Ze vertelde dat zij per direct ontslag heeft genomen, omdat zij “niet langer achter de cyclus van geweld kan staan”. Volgens Chakkour is de huidige koers van de Syrische regering “niet de juiste” en ze roept president Assad op om samen met de oppositie een nieuwe regering te vormen. Chakkour is sinds 2008 de Syrische ambassadeur voor Frankrijk. De Syrische ambassade heeft tegenover Reuters bevestigd dat zij haar post heeft verlaten.

Frankrijk dringt bij de VN-Veiligheidsraad aan op het aannemen van een resolutie die Syri� veroordeelt voor het harde optreden van de regering tegen demonstranten. Sinds maart zouden volgens mensenrechtengroeperingen zeker 1200 mensen zijn omgekomen door het gewelddadige optreden van de regering van al-Assad tegen de antiregeringsbetogingen in het land.

quote:

Syrian town empties as government tanks mass outside

All-out assault on residents of Jisr al-Shughour feared after uprising against security forces

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.

Human rights activists in Damascus said 59 civilians had been confirmed killed. However they feared the final number was likely to be more than 100.

The prospect of the imminent operation has stirred the ghosts of an infamous assault on the town of Hama 29 years ago, in which tens of thousands of residents were killed by the former president Hafez al-Assad after they launched a failed challenge to his authority.

Assad's son, President Bashar al-Assad, is now facing a more serious threat, with sustained protests in many Syrian towns and cities that are steadily eroding the iron-clad rule of the Assad dynasty.

The siege of Jisr al-Shughour appears to mark a turning point in the popular rebellion, inspired by revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia. The Syrian information minister, Mohammed al-Shaar, insisted on Monday night that residents had taken up arms and turned on security forces.

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."

Another man, who did not want to be identified, also said that some officers had switched sides. The Syrian government refused to acknowledge that any mutiny had occurred. However, it did concede that forces inside the town had "lost control for intermittent periods". Another government official confirmed that some government weapons were now in the hands of residents. The haul included five tonnes of dynamite, the information ministry spokesman Reem Haddad told the BBC.

Shaar said the military would "not stay silent" and a move to retake the town was expected before daybreak. "The army will carry out their national duty to restore order," he said.

Authorities in Turkey said it had received several hundred refugees who had crossed the border, many of whom had wounds. Several thousand more villagers are thought to have fled south towards Aleppo and east into farmlands. It is not known how many residents have stayed behind.

"I know that people are waiting for the army," said one Syrian exile in London. "I have spoken to people there today and they are preparing to fight them."

If claims of an armed rebellion are proven, it would mark the first time that citizens had taken up weapons in large numbers. Protests have been taking place at least weekly in many cities, including the capital, Damascus. Human rights groups claim that more than 1,000 people have been killed, nearly all of them demonstrators campaigning for widespread democratic reforms.

Weekly death tolls have risen sharply over the past fortnight, placing growing pressure on Assad. Damascus has been anxious to cast the uprising as a series of clashes with armed gangs who are backed by foreign powers aiming to topple the government.

The US has imposed sanctions on Assad and members of his inner circle and there are increasing signs that Europe has lost a one-time belief that Assad is a reformer constrained by the society he rules.

The UN has stopped short of imposing on Syria the same sort of security resolutions as those directed at Libya and has ruled out military intervention, and Russia has indicated it would veto any UN attempt to increase the pressure on its long-term ally.

Analysts in Damascus said they feared the government was willing to push the country into a violent struggle as it tried to cling to power. Their view was backed by diplomats in Beirut, who said regime figures were likely to further destabilise neighbouring Lebanon if pressure on them continued to mount.

Israel has accused Damascus of orchestrating protests in the Golan Heights along the ceasefire line between both countries to create a diversion from its domestic troubles.

The uprising broke out in mid-March, initially calling for reforms but escalating into demands for the toppling of the regime after a series of brutal crackdowns that spread to most major towns and cities in the country.

"Our line is that protesters either go out peacefully, or they don't go out at all," said one religious man in Damascus who is supporting the protests.

• Nidaa Hassan is a pseudonym for a journalist in Damascus

quote:

After a protest was violently suppressed in the nearby town of Talkalakh, hundreds of Christian families cheered the soldiers as they returned on the highway to Homs.

quote:

Op donderdag 9 juni 2011 08:43 schreef Monidique het volgende:

[..]

http://harpers.org/archive/2011/06/hbc-90008111

Irak 2.0.

quote:

Op donderdag 9 juni 2011 12:07 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]

Weer die klote-gristenen.

quote:

Op donderdag 9 juni 2011 12:00 schreef ChristianLebaneseFront het volgende:
God bless Bashar! Ga door en vernietig die moslimextremisten!

Moest even gezegd worden.

quote:

Iran summons UK charge d'affaires

Iranian Foreign Ministry has summoned Britain's charge d'affaires to protest the false claims by British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Iran's meddling in the developments in Syria.

Head of Iranian foreign ministry's West Europe division Habibollahi told Jane Marriott that there is no evidence supporting the accusations leveled by William Hague against Iran and repeated by a Foreign Office spokesperson.

“The remarks [by the British Foreign Secretary] are completely unfounded and part of a series of false claims,” Habibollahi said.

“The British government is not qualified to make such comments about other countries due to its negative role and meddling in the regional developments especially giving training to the military forces in some countries used to crackdown on people,” he added.

During the meeting, the Iranian side also condemned the meddlesome comments by British officials about Iran's domestic affairs and criticized the dual and contradictory approach of Britain toward the regional developments.

Although the British envoys in Iran have repeatedly pledged to inform their government of Tehran's protest, there has been no change in London's hostile approach toward Iran.

AMR/HE

quote:

Op donderdag 9 juni 2011 08:43 schreef Monidique het volgende:

[..]

http://harpers.org/archive/2011/06/hbc-90008111

Irak 2.0.

quote:

Op donderdag 9 juni 2011 14:37 schreef Shou het volgende:

[..]

Christenen worden nu regelmatig bedreigd dat er met hun wordt afgerekend als Assad valt, dus is niet zo gek.

quote:

Op donderdag 9 juni 2011 14:23 schreef Rambolin het volgende:

[..]

http://www.presstv.com/detail/183902.html

Iran heeft natuurlijk gelijk dat de Britten hypocriet bezig zijn.

quote:

Op donderdag 9 juni 2011 12:13 schreef ChristianLebaneseFront het volgende:

[..]

Waarom? Omdat ze blij zijn dat ze beschermd worden tegen gevaarlijke moslimterroristen?

quote:

Op dinsdag 7 juni 2011 15:32 schreef KurdKasim het volgende:

[..]

Bron is Today's Zaman.

quote:

Op donderdag 9 juni 2011 20:17 schreef johnnylove het volgende:
@Kasim

Misschien weet je hier meer van.

Indien het regime valt, staat dan het Turkse leger klaar om Syri� binnen te vallen? Dit om de stateloze Koerden tegen te houden?

quote:

Op donderdag 9 juni 2011 19:35 schreef KurdKasim het volgende:

[..]

En die bedreigingen lijken terecht.

quote:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9688352

Associated Press= GUVECCI, Turkey (AP) — Syrian policemen turned their guns on each other, soldiers shed their uniforms rather than obey orders to fire on protesters, and three young men who tried to escape were beheaded by forces loyal to President Bashar Assad.

As more than 2,400 Syrians streamed across the open Turkish borders on Thursday ahead of tanks and troops who surrounded their hometown, they brought with them the first accounts of a week of revolt, mutiny and mayhem in Jisra al-Shughour. The streets were deserted, leaving no resistance against a regime equipped for all-out battle.

Even safe in Turkish camps 12 miles (20 kilometers) away, the Syrians said they feared the authoritarian government's reach and refused to allow their full names to be used.

A young man who identified himself as Rami said the Syrian reinforcements were mobilized in response to a mutiny among police and soldiers, sharply divided over how to disperse the protesters.

"It all started with the killing of two protesters a week ago, then policemen who refused orders from the Alawite police chief to fire on civilians clashed at the Emin Asqari police station," Rami said through an interpreter. Other Syrians nodded or interrupted with more details. Syria's ruling elite, including the Assads, belong to the minority Alawite sect.

"Then, some soldiers deserted also after refusing to fire on the protesters, some took off their uniforms, left their weapons and ran away with their families," added Rami, a skinny 22-year-old who was studying at a university in Jisr al-Shughour to become a math teacher. "Two helicopters also fired randomly on civilians as well as houses that triggered the exodus."

Rami said he can't reach many of his friends.

"I fear for their lives," said Rami. "Assad's forces beheaded three young men from Latakia when they said they were going to Turkey. We buried them yesterday in a village across the border."

The struggle over Jisr al-Shughour and the surrounding Idlib province is a critical test for the 40-year Assad regime, which has said "armed groups" killed 120 security forces in the area this week.

Syrian activists say more than 1,300 people have died in the crackdown on the 11-week uprising, most of them unarmed civilians; a government spokeswoman countered that 500 security forces had died in the uprising, including 120 who died in the Jisr al-Shughour area this week.

"The only instance where security forces have fired is when they have been fired at," Reem Haddad told Britain's Sky News. "How have these people been killed for goodness sake if no one is firing at them?"

Jisr al-Shughour emptied as its residents crossed olive groves and traveled gravel roads, trying to get away from the tanks and elite forces believed to be led by Assad's younger brother, Maher, residents and an activist said. Turkey's foreign minister said 2,400 Syrians had crossed the border.

"It is virtually a ghost town now," said Rami. "Almost everyone fled mostly toward nearby villages, but many more are prepared to cross into Turkey if Assad's forces start hunting them."

A man who stayed behind in Jisr al-Shughour confirmed that the town was all but empty, and people in a nearby village warned that hundreds of soldiers were massing, along with 27 tanks and 50 armored personnel carriers.

As more Syrians took up temporary residence in tents and with Turkish relatives, the uprising against the Assad regime drew increasing scrutiny abroad.

At a gathering of diplomats in Abu Dhabi, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Syria was a main topic of discussion. And four European nations on Wednesday presented a revised resolution to the United Nations condemning Syria for the crackdown.

"President Assad may try to delay the changes under way in Syria but he cannot reverse them," Clinton said.

In Geneva, Navi Pillay, the U.N.'s High Commissioner for Human Rights, accused Syria of trying to "bludgeon its population into submission" by attacking anti-government protesters with snipers, tanks and artillery.

But Haddad, the government spokeswoman, said residents had asked troops to come and restore order.

In a village about 6 miles (10 kilometers) from Jisr al-Shughour, residents came out to the streets to welcome Syrian soldiers heading toward the northwestern town. Some threw roses while others offered them cheese, yogurt and other food, according to a Syrian reporter accompanying the troops.

Ahmed Ali, 47, told the reporter, "we are very pleased to see the army who came to rescue us from those criminals."

The Syrian government, which sharply restricts local media and expelled foreign journalists from Syria, has blamed recent violence on gunmen and religious militants.

Ahead of the incoming forces, groups of Syrians were crossing into Turkey by the hour, on motorbikes, pickup trucks and on foot.

"I don't want to die. I want Bashar Assad to go," said one Syrian teenager, who identified himself as Ahmad. Activists say more than 10,000 people have been detained since the uprising began in mid-March.

Turkey and Syria once nearly went to war, but the two countries have cultivated warm relations in recent years, lifting travel visa requirements for their citizens and promoting business ties. By allowing Syrian refugees, the Turkish government is playing the role of a humanitarian provider even as it urges the Assad regime to stop its crackdown and implement democratic reforms.

Turkey and Syria share a 520-mile (850 kilometer) border, which includes several Syrian provinces. Refugees appeared to be crossing unimpeded on Thursday around Guvecci. Turkish guards set up a table on one road to record names, but there was no sign of Syrian guards on the other side.

The Turkish province of Hatay has a sizable Arabic-speaking population. It gained independence from Syria in 1938 and joined Turkey in a plebiscite a year later. Families in some villages were split when the borders were finalized in 1948.

"We will keep our doors open to all Syrians seeking refuge in our country. It would be out of the question for us to close our doors at a time when deaths have intensified and our brothers are seeking the possibility of refuge," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday.

Syrian tanks were also deployed in Aleppo, the border province that is home to Syria's second-largest city of the same name, Erdogan told CNN-Turk television late Wednesday.

"There are tanks in the streets," Erdogan said. "They seem to have lost control there."

Mustafa Osso, an activist in Syria, and a resident of the city of Aleppo, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisals, said tanks were in at least two towns in the province.

---

Mroue reported in Beirut. Associated Press writer Suzan Fraser in Ankara and Matthew Lee in Abu Dhabi contributed to this report.

quote:

Op donderdag 9 juni 2011 22:35 schreef Renaldo het volgende:
hebben ze in syri� niet allemaal een ak47 thuis liggen?

wat een verschil met libi� waar de opstandelingen binnen een korte periode een "geoliede" machine zijn met workshops, steeds betere wapens etc.

quote:

Op donderdag 9 juni 2011 22:35 schreef Renaldo het volgende:
hebben ze in syri� niet allemaal een ak47 thuis liggen?

wat een verschil met libi� waar de opstandelingen binnen een korte periode een "geoliede" machine zijn met workshops, steeds betere wapens etc.

quote:

Op donderdag 9 juni 2011 20:33 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]

Er zijn geen gevaarlijke moslimterroristen.

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Op donderdag 9 juni 2011 23:26 schreef rakotto het volgende:

[..]

Dude Ze hebben allemaal wapens thuis uit de eerste en tweede wereld oorlog.

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Op vrijdag 10 juni 2011 11:33 schreef Hans_van_Baalen het volgende:
Turkije die zich ermee bemoeit en grenzen openstelt, goede zaak opzich. Maar Erdogan die Assad als barbaar afschilderd, is natuurlijk het pot-ketel-zwart-riedeltje.

quote:

Op vrijdag 10 juni 2011 11:33 schreef Hans_van_Baalen het volgende:
Turkije die zich ermee bemoeit en grenzen openstelt, goede zaak opzich. Maar Erdogan die Assad als barbaar afschilderd, is natuurlijk het pot-ketel-zwart-riedeltje.

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Op vrijdag 10 juni 2011 09:10 schreef anabolefreak het volgende:

[..]

zeker wel.

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Op vrijdag 10 juni 2011 11:47 schreef De_Nuance het volgende:
Nja er zijn goede punten van kritiek op Erdogan zoals journalisten die kritiek op hem uiten die worden aangeklaagd.

Maar met Assad op een lijn zetten slaat nergens op.

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Op vrijdag 10 juni 2011 12:06 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]

De Syrische veiligheidsmensen, ja.

quote:

3.49pm: Damascus-based human rights lawyer Razan Zeitouneh says there have been reports of 19 deaths so far today in the crackdown on the protests.

She has the names of all 19, but the list does not include those killed in the north-west province of Idlib - scene of the largest crackdown, including the siege of Jisr al-Shughour.

"Many people got killed in Idlib but we didn't get their names yet, because the military is there and it is very difficult to get the details," she said in a Skype interview uploaded to Audioboo.

Five of those who died were killed in the coastal town Latakia, she said. "In Homs there was a huge protest and heavy gunfire. But we didn't get information about injured [people] there. In Deir Azzour it is the biggest protest."

She confirmed that eyewitnesses in Jisr al-Shughour have talked of Iranian involvement in the crackdown against the town. "According to eyewitnesses that is how it started. When the protesters caught six persons who were not Syrians, they were Iranians, and they were shooting with security [forces]."

She said the army had not yet fired on the town today, but had attacked villages around Jisr al-Shughour.

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Op vrijdag 10 juni 2011 17:56 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:
The Guardian Live blog:

[..]

Iran in Syri�?

quote:

Op vrijdag 10 juni 2011 19:25 schreef De_Nuance het volgende:
Dat Hezbollah Assad steunt lijkt heel vreemd

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Op vrijdag 10 juni 2011 19:38 schreef Monidique het volgende:

[..]

Het wordt ze ook niet in dank afgenomen.

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Op vrijdag 10 juni 2011 19:43 schreef De_Nuance het volgende:

[..]

Door wie?

Maar het is gezien het conflict in Libanon misschien logisch, Syri� werd altijd al in verband gebracht met Hezbollah en dit is dan weer een soort bewijs.

quote:

Syria's state TV director tells BBC 'refugees' just visiting family in Turkey

Reem Haddad puts spin on the desperate attempt of hundreds of locals to flee Jisr al-Shughour before government clampdown

She may look like the actor Isla Fisher and speak like a Mayfair lady who lunches, but appearances – and words – can be deceptive. As hundreds of refugees fled the Syrian border town Jisr al-Shughour on Thursday, desperate to avoid an expected government clampdown after the killing earlier this week of 120 soldiers, Reem Haddad (below), the director of Syria's state TV network, gave an interview to the BBC to account for the crowds pouring into Turkey.

Many have relatives in villages just the other side of the border, she said. "A lot of them find it easy to move across because their relatives are there. It's a bit like having a problem in your street, and your mum lives in the next street, so you go and visit your mum for a bit."

As Syria's security and humanitarian crisis escalates, Haddad, who acts as a spokeswoman for the country's information ministry, has become one of the most familiar faces of President Bashar al-Assad's regime, with a talent for insisting on innocent explanations for the brutal government response to the protests.

In this she has drawn comparisons to Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf, whose exuberant insistence on behalf of Saddam Hussein's government that the Iraqi army was invincible earned him the nickname Comical Ali before the 2003 allied invasion.

Little is known about Haddad's early career to date, though her father served as Syria's ambassador to East Germany and is said to have modelled Syria's secret police on the Stasi.

"I don't think she believes all of what she's saying, though I think she believes some of it," Amr al-Azm, a former colleague at a Damascus language school in the early 1990s, told the Times. "She believes there's a war here between two ideologies, two groups, and she believes she's on the right side."

Would the government allow the gathering protesters to make their demonstrations peacefully, she was asked by al-Jazeera in late April.

There were no demonstrators, she said. On the contrary, said the journalist, many people on the ground were reporting gathering crowds.

"I know, you have this 'eyewitness phenomenon' thing," replied Haddad. "But we have our cameras everywhere and we have seen no gathering at all." In principle, however, demonstrations were permitted. "But they have to apply for a licence and they have to tell the police, and the police will tell them along which routes they should follow, and how long they should demonstrate and how many people there should be."

The same broadcaster, some weeks later, asked about 500 civilians thought to have been shot dead by security forces in street protests (that figure is now more than 1,000). "How do you know that sir, may I ask?" replied Haddad. "How do you know that 500 people have been shot dead, where is your information coming from?" It was a figure compiled by human rights organisations in Syria and London, among others, said the journalist.

"But my dear they are sitting in London. How can they confirm anything!" The world should confirm its facts independently, said the spokeswoman, "rather than taking shoddy, shoddy if I may say, eyewitness accounts." As Haddad well knows, all foreign journalists are banned from Syria.

quote:

Syrian army enters besieged town as protests leave at least 20 dead

• Thousands flee into Turkey in face of advance
• Demonstrations met with gunfire, say activists

The Syrian regime ordered its army to enter the besieged town of Jisr al-Shughour on Friday as pro-democracy demonstrations across the country were met with gunfire, leaving more than 20 dead, according to activists.

Over the past few days refugees have flooded across the border into Turkey, where officials say almost 3,000 Syrians have made their way to camps to escape the fighting. Most have walked over rolling hills from the northern town that has been menaced all week by Syrian tanks and troops, who finally entered Jisr al-Shughour just after daybreak.

Those who had reached Turkey were unable to contact those relatives that had stayed behind, with all lines to the town cut. Anecdotal reports suggested Jisr al-Shughour has been largely abandoned. There were no means of establishing what was taking place during the largest operation mounted by the Syrian army since the initial popular uprising of 15 March.

The town – normally inhabited by 41,000 people – has become a focal point of the Syrian revolution ever since President Bashar al-Assad's regime vowed to wreak vengeance on its mostly forsaken inhabitants, who the regime accuses of killing 120 government troops last weekend.

Almost all its residents are now on the move. Two men who spoke with the Guardian in the southern Turkish village of Guvecci on Friday, less than an hour after they had crossed the border, said many hundreds were hiding in the 20 miles of hills and valleys between their home town and safety.

Turkey said it would take in as many refugees as it needed to. The quid pro quo, however, continued to be that none of them were allowed to speak publicly about what they had endured. The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has remained a staunch supporter of Assad throughout.

However, Erdogan appeared to change tone on Thursday night, describing the situation in Syria as "appalling" and suggesting that Damascus had not taken seriously his most recent complaints.

Despite mounting condemnation, there appeared to be no respite on Friday in the violence elsewhere in Syria, with human rights groups in Damascus claiming that up to 21 people had been killed at demonstrations across the country.

The largest of them appeared to be in the capital, where activists reported that troops fired teargas and live rounds into numerous suburbs. Large protests were also held in Lattakia, Alleppo and Hama, where more than 60 demonstrators were killed the previous Friday.

Friday, the first day of the weekend in Syria, when worshippers gather in mosques to pray, has been the bloodiest day of each of the past six weeks. Prayers have often spilled over into demonstrations, then marches, which had been outlawed for much of the past four decades as potential threats to the dictatorship.

This Friday was no different, despite clear signs that the embattled regime was refusing to acknowledge international condemnation that this week led to attempts by Britain and France to introduce a resolution criticising Syrian leaders at the UN security council.

Syrian refugees also continued to stream into Lebanon, where there were no restraints on them giving accounts of what had happened during clashes in their towns and villages. None of the residents from Jisr al-Shughour had seemingly tried to reach the Lebanese border, with nearly all having fled north, raising the spectre of a humanitarian crisis between the town and the Turkish border.

"There are people still trying to get to the border who have no food or water," said Hassan, an 18-year-old shopkeeper from Jisr al-Shughour, who claimed to have found a way across the frontier that he uses to resupply family members on the move.

"I have been in this area for five days, coming and going, and there are more people travelling than before."

A clearer picture also began to emerge of the deadly series of battles that took place in Jisr al-Shughour last weekend, leading the government to vow revenge. The Guardian has spoken with six men who all said independently that some men with full beards and in civilian clothes stood alongside Syrian soldiers last Saturday as battles raged in the town.

Their accounts could not be corroborated. But British officials on Friday reiterated a claim that the Syrian government is receiving advice and riot control equipment from Iran's Revolutionary Guards. Westminster said it had seen no evidence of Iran sending troops or paramilitaries to suppress Syrian protests directly.

"That would be something new, that we have not been aware of, but we can't rule it out," one official said.

On Thursday, the UK's charg� d'affaires in Tehran was summoned to the foreign ministry to hear Iranian complaints about the British allegations.

"The UK stands by its statements," the UK Foreign Office said in a statement. "We have seen credible information suggesting Iran is helping Syria with the suppression of protests there, including through the provision of expertise and equipment."

quote:

Op zaterdag 11 juni 2011 13:20 schreef KurdKasim het volgende:
De mensen kunnen blijven demonstreren, maar eens moeten de wapens opgepakt worden. En of dat nou door de bevolking zelf of door de NAVO moet gebeuren maakt niet uit. Een andere manier is er niet in Syrie.

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Op zaterdag 11 juni 2011 13:21 schreef Baghdaddy het volgende:

[..]

Ik ben nog steeds verbaasd dat dat niet al gebeurd is in Syri�.

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Op zaterdag 11 juni 2011 13:28 schreef Monidique het volgende:

[..]

Ze maken geen kans. Nu lopen militairen over omdat ze op ongewapende burgers moeten schieten, dat kan dan niet meer.

quote:

Op zaterdag 11 juni 2011 13:37 schreef waht het volgende:

[..]

En als die militairen hun wapentuig meenemen is het een kwestie van tijd voordat de burger terugschiet.

quote:

Op zaterdag 11 juni 2011 13:52 schreef Monidique het volgende:

[..]

Die burgers en die paar overgelopen militairen maken geen schijn van kans tegen het Syrische leger. Ze worden finaal de pan in gehakt. Dat is dus een reden om (nog) geen wapens op te pakken. Daarnaast, zoals ik zeg, zal het dan tegen gewapende opstandelingen zijn en niet tegen ongewapende demonstranten. Dat toont het gelijk van het leger en zorgt voor minder steun. Slechte keus dus.

quote:

Op zaterdag 11 juni 2011 14:06 schreef waht het volgende:

[..]

Uiteraard, als we het rationeel bekijken is er wellicht iets op tegen. Maar daar is geen tijd voor als net je hele familie is uitgemoord. Dan pak je een wapen en doe je wat je kunt totdat iemand jou stopt.

quote:

Op zaterdag 11 juni 2011 14:06 schreef waht het volgende:

[..]

Uiteraard, als we het rationeel bekijken is er wellicht iets op tegen. Maar daar is geen tijd voor als net je hele familie is uitgemoord. Dan pak je een wapen en doe je wat je kunt totdat iemand jou stopt.

quote:

Op zaterdag 11 juni 2011 14:26 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]

En vergeet niet dat een guerrilla-oorlog niet te winnen is voor een regulier leger.

quote:

Op zaterdag 11 juni 2011 14:42 schreef Monidique het volgende:

[..]

Dat zou best een natuurlijke reactie kunnen zijn, maar het is te hopen voor de Syrische oppositie dat die reactie grotendeels uitblijft of bij gevoelens blijft. En ja, het lijkt erop dat veel burgers toch de tijd hebben om er over na te denken, ondanks dat hun buren en vrienden en familie worden vermoord.

quote:

Op zaterdag 11 juni 2011 14:42 schreef Monidique het volgende:

[..]

Of voor de guerilla's.

quote:

Op zaterdag 11 juni 2011 14:48 schreef waht het volgende:

[..]

Het lijkt me sterk dat het volk dit allemaal incasseert en straks weer normaal doorgaat met het leven zoals voorheen (hoe waardeloos dat al was).

quote:

Op zaterdag 11 juni 2011 14:49 schreef waht het volgende:

[..]

De guerilla heeft eigenlijk al gewonnen als het een reactie van de tegenpartij heeft weten uit te lokken, dat is het hoogst haalbare. De tegenpartij moet zich gaan wapenen tegen de onvoorspelbare guerilla-aanval met alle gevolgen van dien.

quote:

Op zaterdag 11 juni 2011 14:42 schreef Monidique het volgende:

[..]

Of voor de guerilla's.

quote:

Op zaterdag 11 juni 2011 14:51 schreef Monidique het volgende:

[..]

Veel landen hebben te maken (gehad) met kleinschalige guerillaoorlogen of soms serieuzere en meestal bloedt het dood of wint de regering. De guerilla's zijn niet zo succesvol en kunnen geen regime verwijderen. Soms kan het zo irritant zijn dat oplossingen gezocht worden, maar het regime blijft vaak. Als het doel is de overheid bezig te houden, dan ja, dan hebben ze gewonnen, maar het doel lijkt mij in dit geval dan de val van het huidige regime en een betere vervanging; die kans is op het moment klein tot nihil in Syri�.

quote:

Op zaterdag 11 juni 2011 14:54 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]

Als de guerilla's alleen maar voor vrijheid willen vechten, zijn ze winnaars elke seconde dat ze niet dood zijn.

quote:

10.34am: Reuters has more details about the deployment of Syrian helicopter gunships in the northern town of Maarat al-Numaan.

The helicopters opened fire after security forces on the ground killed five protesters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told the news agency:

"At least five helicopters flew over Maarat al-Numaan and began firing their machine guns to disperse the tens of thousands who marched in the protest," one witness said by telephone.

"People hid in fields, under bridges and in their houses, but the firing continued on the mostly empty streets for hours," said the witness, who gave his name as Nawaf.

10 6 Ma'rrat An Numan Idlib أوغاريت معرة النعمان إدلب الطائرات تقصف المدينة في جمعة العشائر

quote:

Op zaterdag 11 juni 2011 14:56 schreef Monidique het volgende:

[..]

De bevolking heeft er alleen weinig aan als een handjevol vrijheidsstrijders vrije winnaars zijn in de jungle of een of andere afgelegen bergpas.

quote:

Syrische tanks sluiten noordelijke stad af

Syrische tanks hebben zaterdag de noordelijke stad Jisr al-Shughour hermetisch afgesloten. Activisten verwachten dat de regering een grootscheepse aanval gaat doen op de regio, die grenst aan Turkije.

De Syrische regering zegt dat 'gewapende groepen' in Jisr al-Shughour vorige week 120 politieagenten en militairen hebben gedood. Duizenden inwoners van de stad zijn de afgelopen dagen naar Turkije gevlucht. Verschillende van hen verklaarden dat het ging om agenten en soldaten die weigerden bevelen op te volgen om op betogers te schieten. Zij zouden daarop zelf zijn doodgeschoten.

Zwaar materieel
De Syrische president Bashar Assad heeft enkele dagen geleden zwaar materieel en duizenden militairen naar het goeddeels verlaten Jisr al-Shughour gestuurd. Het leger is naar verluidt al enkele dagen klaar voor een aanval op de stad. Het is niet duidelijk waarom het leger nog niet heeft aangevallen.

Volgens een inwoner van de stad is het leger bang om aan te vallen, omdat de mensen die in de stad zijn achtergebleven 'ongemeen fel' zijn. In de stad zou een kleine groep deserteurs gezworen hebben terug te vechten en ongewapende burgers te beschermen. 'We hopen dat we de wapens niet hoeven op te nemen', aldus de man. De bevolking, benadrukte hij, staat er op zich 'vreedzaam te verzetten'.

Grof geweld
Assad probeert koste wat het kost een nu al bijna drie maanden durende opstand tegen zijn regime met grof geweld de kop in te drukken. Desondanks gingen vrijdag in elke grote stad betogers de straat op. In de stad Maaret al-Numan overweldigden duizenden betogers de veiligheidstroepen. Ze staken een rechtbank en een politiebureau in brand. Het leger beschoot de stad daarop met tanks. In totaal kwamen vrijdag 36 mensen om het leven bij acties van de veiligheidstroepen.

Mensenrechtenorganisatie Human Rights Watch heeft zaterdag de leden van de Veiligheidsraad van de Verenigde Naties opgeroepen een resolutie te steunen waarin wordt opgeroepen tot een directe einde aan het geweld. 'De complete radiostilte van de Veiligheidsraad met betrekking tot de massale wreedheden die tegen de bevolking van Syri� worden begaan sterkt de Syrische regering alleen maar in haar onderdrukking', aldus HRW. 'Een veto van Rusland en China om de Syrische regering te beschermen en pogingen de moorden te stoppen te blokkeren zou een serieus verraad zijn van de onder vuur liggende Syrische burgers.'

quote:

Op zaterdag 11 juni 2011 17:29 schreef zuiderbuur het volgende:
De AKP-regering in Turkije wou eigenlijk - voor zover ik het begrijp- hun land een regionale grootmacht laten worden, die bemiddelde omtrent het nucleaire programma in Iran en ook tussen Syri� en Isra�l? Is er iemand die kan volgen of deze recente opstand in Syri� de verkiezingen daar ernstig kan be�nvloeden (want normaal wint de AKP-partij opnieuw met een absolute meerderheid....)

quote:

Ik herinner me trouwens dat een aantal maanden geleden gezegd werd dat men in Syri� kritiek op de president zelf nog niet zo snel ging uiten (zoals in Marokko en Jordani� de koningen ook niet zo vaak direct aangevallen worden). Ik vraag me af of dat nu nog wel van Syri� kan gezegd worden

quote:

Op zaterdag 11 juni 2011 17:33 schreef De_Nuance het volgende:

[..]

Neuh, omdat Erdogan zich humanitair opstelt (vluchtelingen zijn welkom) en Assad's daden nu heeft afgekeurd zal het geen invloed hebben denk ik.

Overigens halen ze geen absolute meerderheid hoor. Hoogste is 41% geweest, en nu zal het ook weer zoiets zijn.

quote:

Op zaterdag 11 juni 2011 18:09 schreef zuiderbuur het volgende:

[..]

Ik bedoelde een absolute meerderheid in het parlement, en bij mijn weten hebben ze dat wel al (341/550?)

quote:

http://www.volkskrant.nl/(...)eldaden-regime.dhtml

Enkele Syrische militairen die naar Turkije zijn uitgeweken, hebben gewag gemaakt van gruweldaden gepleegd door het regime van president Bashar al-Assad. Soldaten zeiden tegen het Franse persbureau AFP dat ze bevelen kregen om op ongewapende burgers te schieten en dat militairen zich op bevel schuldig maken aan verkrachtingen. Wie bevelen niet gehoorzaamt, kan worden ge�xecuteerd, zeiden ze zaterdag aan de Turks-Syrische grens.

Een soldaat zei dat hij is gedeserteerd nadat hij 'zuiveringen' had meegemaakt in de plaats al-Rastan in de provincie Homs. 'Ons werd te verstaan gegeven dat de mensen er gewapend waren, maar toen we er kwamen, zagen we alleen maar gewone burgers. We kregen het bevel het vuur te openen. We gingen huizen binnen en schoten op iedereen.'

De militair Ahmed Khalaf zei dat het regime schutters van de politie of van de Libanese beweging Hezbollah inschakelt om te schieten op weigerachtige militairen.

quote:

Associated Press= BEIRUT (AP) — A border region with a history of hostility toward the Syrian regime is posing the biggest challenge yet for President Bashar Assad's struggle to crush the revolt against his family's 40-year-rule.

Analysts say Assad will do anything to restore control in the restive northern area bordering Turkey, where mutinous forces are giving a largely peaceful revolt new strength — and firepower.

On Saturday, thousands of elite troops and tanks believed to be led by his brother sealed off the entrances to the mostly deserted town of Jisr al-Shughour, with soldiers loyal to the regime coming under sniper fire as they approached.

Mutinous Syrian soldiers and police officers remained behind to fight against an expected all-out government assault, a resident said, and unarmed demonstrators were ready to fight "with their hands" in the town just 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the Turkish border.

While the Syrian uprising is still far from an all out Libya-style insurgency, the mutiny in Jisr al-Shughour raises concerns the 12-week revolt is taking on a new dimension. Jisr al-Shughour's history of Sunni militancy and its proximity to Turkey make it a crucial proving ground for the regime.

Syrian troops backed by tanks, helicopters and heavy armor have been in the area for several days; it was not clear why the army was delaying an assault. In the meantime, a captain and 15 soldiers defected and joined the protesters on Saturday, according to the Local Coordination Committees, which documents Syrian anti-government protests. The report could not be independently confirmed.

Ausama Monajed, a London-based Syrian activist, said the Assads could be worried not just about army defections, but any hesitation to obey shoot-on-sight orders. Human rights groups say more than 1,400 people nationwide have died in the government crackdown since the uprising erupted in southern Syria in mid-March.

"The Assads are reshuffling the army and creating a number of mainly Alawite units made up specifically of people who have been tested and have shown themselves to be hardcore loyalists," he said.

"It is these units that have been sent to Jisr al-Shughour."

Jisr al-Shughour is a predominantly Sunni town with some Alawite and Christian villages nearby in Idlib province. Most Syrians are Sunni Muslim, but Assad and the ruling elite belong to the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Jamil Saeb, an activist from the town who was reached by phone, suggested the army was afraid to take on the people who stayed behind because Jisr al-Shughour residents were "known to be exceptionally fierce." He said several army deserters and officers were still there and have vowed to protect unarmed residents.

Idlib's Muslim Brotherhood population rose up against Assad's father, the late president Hafez Assad, in the late 1970s. Jisr al-Shughour itself came under heavy government bombardment in 1980, with a reported 70 people killed. Residents say the numbers were much higher.

The events proved a prelude to a 1982 three-week bombing campaign against the city of Hama that crushed a Sunni uprising there, killing 10,000 to 25,000 people, according to Amnesty International estimates.

"They (regime) have a grudge against Jisr al-Shughour since the 80s," said Saeb.

The government's admission that 120 officers and security officers were killed by "armed groups" in the area gave new cause for concern.

"Syria cannot afford to lose territory where an insurgency or rebel army might emerge," said Joshua Landis, director of the University of Oklahoma's Center for Middle East Studies.

"Damascus will do everything it can to preclude the formation of a Benghazi, which would allow foreign intelligence agencies and governments to begin arming and training a rebel army, as happened in Libya," he wrote in his influential blog, Syria Comment.

Benghazi is the de facto rebel capital in Libya and the center of their strength; Syria's Idlib province is nowhere near that level.

Arab governments, which were unusually supportive of NATO intervention in Libya, have met the Syrian crackdown with silence, largely because Syria is seen as a regional powerhouse with influence on events in neighboring Israel, Lebanon, Iraq. Syria also has an explosive sectarian mix and there are fears that the alternative to Assad would be chaos and sectarian fighting.

"Syria ... is engaging in horrific, revolting attacks on its own people. The region, however, is trying to, behind the scenes, get the government to stop," said U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Syria's brutal crackdown has angered the leaders of neighboring Turkey, who accused the Assad regime of "savagery" and have given refuge to more than 4,300 Syrians.

Journalists invited to accompany troops to the north, including an AP reporter, came under fire about a mile outside Jisr al-Shughour Saturday, and the government blamed snipers stationed in nearby hills. No casualties were reported.

Authorities said they have made some arrests and killed and wounded many of the armed men around Jisr al-Shughour, a city of about 40,000 that has been largely abandoned by residents in recent days.

Confirming information out of Syria is difficult. Communications are cut in areas where the uprising is strongest, including Jisr al-Shughour and foreign journalists have been expelled.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem called on the United Nations to help his country fight "terrorist groups." In an interview he gave to the Syrianow website, Moallem said he had sent an urgent message to the U.N. chief warning that any Security Council resolution targeting Syria would be considered "intervention in his country's internal affairs."

Turkey's military, meanwhile, was making preparations to step in if necessary, to "control and manage" the flow of refugees from Syria. Some wounded Syrians from Jisr al-Shughour or elsewhere were being treated at the state hospital in the Turkish city of Hatay.

One of them, who only identified himself with his first name, Ahmad, told an Associated Press reporter at his hospital bed on Saturday that he was hit by three bullets during a protest in Jisr al-Shughour on June 4.

One bullet had struck him in the neck, and he spoke with difficulty.

"The snipers suddenly started firing onto us from three buildings," Ferah, a Turkish relative, quoted him as saying in Arabic. "I was hit in the neck and chest first, but a third bullet found my right arm when I raised it while on the ground."

"Allah gave me another life," Ahmad said.

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Associated Press writer Selcan Hacaoglu in Boynuyogun, Turkey, and Matthew Lee in Lusaka, Zambia, contributed to this report.

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Zeina Karam can be reached on http://twitter.com/zkaram

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Syria Comment: http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/

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Syrian troops accused of firing on locals trying to flee Jisr al-Shughour

Survivors claim government forces shot escaping residents, ambulance men and soldiers who laid down their arms

Hikmat was one of the few remaining residents in Jisr al-Shughour when the Syrian army rolled in, firing wildly and at will. "They didn't care what they were shooting at," said the 39-year-old, who was hit in the foot as soldiers finally delivered on a week-long threat to wreak havoc in the town that dared rage against the regime.

Jisr al-Shughour has now been sealed off by some 15,000 troops – backed by tanks and helicopters – who are operating with impunity.

Hours after being wounded, Hikmat fled for the Turkish border. "There was a good man with a motorcycle who gave me a ride," he said. "We had to travel at night because the roads were still not safe." He said he passed "many, many" people from the town of more than 40,000 who had fled to the rolling hills between Jisr al-Shughour and the safety of the Turkish border. "They are too scared to move. They are terrified."

Those who have crossed the frontier are shedding increasing light on three days of bloodshed that have changed the face of the Syrian revolt. Until now there have been few voices able to speak out about what was left behind in Jisr al-Shughour or the events leading up to last weekend's carnage.

The Syrian information ministry said that the bloodbath had been caused by armed gangs, which attacked the military and killed 120. Interviews conducted in recent days, however, have painted a very different picture. They tell of a crackdown far more brutal than any other seen since the first uprising three months ago, although protests have been met with ever-increasing force by President Bashar al-Assad.

Last Sunday, Samir, 27, had just returned from a funeral for a local man, Bassil Musri, who was killed the day before by security forces. "We were gathered in a large garden at the centre of town," he said. "I was the first one shot. They had taken positions in every government building surrounding us."

Samir's body was riddled with bullets, which have taken a terrible toll. He is bleeding internally and is racked with infection. He may not survive the coming days. "The gunfire was from everywhere," he said, lying in a hospital bed in Antakya in Turkey. "So many people fell. It was a massacre."

Samir said trouble had been brewing for days. Strangers in town had been gathering information on demonstrators – especially those the regime had flagged as agents provocateurs. "We had been campaigning for freedom, for our rights, just like everyone else. They say we had weapons. Believe me, if we had I would have been the first to use one."

In the same hospital, Abu Tahar, 29, an ambulance driver from Jisr al-Shughour, was being treated for gunshot wounds to his back. He had arrived at the garden last Sunday to help the wounded. "Bullets were raining from everywhere," he said. "It was chaos." He said that up to 10,000 people had gathered in the garden, one of the few large public places in town, to protest at the killing of Musri.

"They just kept shooting and shooting," he said. "Earlier in the week we had been told not to go to pick up the wounded. They wanted them to die there. Anyone who tried was shot, his body falling on top of the other victim. That is what happened to me. The next thing I knew I woke up here."

He said he had spoken by telephone to family members in the town who confirmed that in the hours after the shooting in the garden large numbers of security forces had abandoned their posts – and had been shot at by soldiers loyal to the regime. He said some 14 soldiers had returned to their homes earlier in the week after refusing to carry out orders, a rarity in Syria, which had led officials to send in spies to monitor citizens and extra forces to deal harshly with any further dissent.

Samir said he had been among a group that had captured two men who had been acting as government informants. "One of them had a beard – and none of the Syrian army has beards. He didn't speak a word of Arabic." Samir's account matches those of six other Jisr al-Shughour citizens who last week all spoke of foreigners – perhaps Iranians – who were standing alongside Syrian soldiers during the clashes. Britain has accused Iran of sending members of its Revolutionary Guards corps to help Damascus monitor the protests, but until last week said it had not seen evidence of troops on the ground.

The presence of Iranian troops would raise the stakes in a revolution that is steadily drawing in neighbouring states. Turkey said it is now dealing with 4,300 refugees and expecting many more. Lebanon, too, is facing an influx of people fleeing eastern Syria. Israel is also bracing for more attempts to infiltrate the Golan Heights, which it seized in 1967. Israel and the US insist that Damascus is trying to create a series of deadly diversions along the Golan in a bid to divert attention from its own woes.

Abu Tahar said the violence a week ago rekindled family memories that his father had long ago buried – two massacres ordered by Bashar al-Assad's father, Hafez, in the early 1980s, one of which also targeted Jisr al-Shughour. "My father always said forget about it, never speak about this." Abu Tahar added: "He said we could not get involved in politics because it would kill us all. We know the nature of our regime. Every day for the past month I knew they were coming for us. They have done what we feared they would do. The difference is that the world now knows. They will kill us all if they can. There are many people still in the mountains too scared to move. This is a crisis and they need help."

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Op zaterdag 11 juni 2011 20:11 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

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‘Leger valt Syrische stad Jisr al-Shughour binnen’

De Syrische staatstelevisie meldt dat er momenteel hevige gevechten aan de gang zijn in de Noordelijke stad Jisr al-Shughour. Het leger zou grote aantallen gewapende mannen hebben gearresteerd, zo stelt de regering.

Legertroepen en tanks zouden de stad vandaag van twee kanten binnengegaan zijn. Minstens twee mannen van de “gewapende bendes” zouden zijn gedood en grote aantallen gearresteerd. Wapens die ze in bezit hadden zouden zijn ingenomen.

Syrische bewindslieden spraken na de vermeende massaslachting op 120 Syrische agenten onmiddellijk over de “nationale plicht” om de rust in Jisr al-Shughour te herstellen. Een aanval zou “op handen zijn”, werd afgelopen week al gemeld. Duizenden Syri�rs vluchtten de afgelopen week de grens met Turkije over.

Al-Jazeera sprak gisteren met een inwoner van Jisr al-Shughour. Volgens hem bevecht de Syrische bevolking in de regio het leger niet. “Het leger doet ons pijn. Iedereen is naar de grens met Turkije gegaan”, zegt hij.

Syrian from Jisr al-Shughur talks to Al Jazeera

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The Syrian elite don't plan to let the revolution spoil their party

The rich and powerful are indifferent to their fellow Syrians and have too much to lose to want the current regime to end

International pressure for President Bashar al-Assad to step down may be growing, but it has failed to catch on among many of the Syrian elite who are carrying on with their lives as usual – in a bubble.

The growing violence – said to have left 1,200 dead and several thousands imprisoned even after the announcement of a prisoner amnesty on 31 May – has not dented the newly moneyed upper middle class's obsession with pleasure and luxury.

Private raves, hosted in the mansions of the rich and powerful, continue unabated, even as EU and US sanctions begin to bite at some of the regime's top personalities.

Pool parties in the Damascus suburb of Barada are openly promoted on Facebook, inviting patrons to get "wet and wild" every Friday as mosques call the faithful to prayer. The day is always busy and organisers say ticket sales failed to take a dip last month when fighting edged closer and sniper fire could be heard between the rare intermissions of trance music beats.

The fuel behind the fun is not escapism, but indifference. A sense of affiliation with fellow man does not regularly permeate the upper stratosphere of this former Soviet ally.

Many of the young, fashionable crowd in Damascus and Aleppo – who have varying degrees of association with the regime – drive in fast cars with blacked-out windows and openly smoke marijuana, knowing they are above the law and resenting the ongoing troubles.

Demands for higher living standards for all and at least a semblance of democratic reform, mixed with an undeniable religious zeal shared by the majority of protesters, could not be further away from the aspirations of the ruling few.

The Syrian elite cannot contemplate deserting Assad, no matter how unsettled about events they personally may be. They have too much to lose and virtually nothing to gain and feel irrevocably alienated from their fellow countrymen.

To an extent, this can be attributed to the sectarian divide which has pinned the majority Sunni population against the Alawite and Christian minorities, traditionally seen as loyal supporters of the largely secular Ba'athist regime.

But the problem is equally a battle of the haves and the have-nots. Certainly, religion matters much less at the Barada pool than who is ordering champagne and who is drinking the local beer.

More than just greed or corruption, the problem stems from conflicting visions regarding the future and how to move Syria forward.

After years of trying to modernise the economy by phasing out subsidies on key goods such as petrol and sugar, the regime immediately reversed its policy on 16 January after popular protests pushed Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali from power.

According to Syrian finance minister Mohammad al-Hussein, the increase in the heating oil allowance alone will cost the state $326m (�200m) a year, benefiting two million public workers and retirees out of a population of 20m.

But populist measures such as this cannot endure if the elite's aspirations are to be fulfilled. In contrast to Egypt and Libya, where political resignations have become commonplace, no leading figures in Syria have publicly switched allegiances, even in the face of rising bloodshed.

For the business and political classes and their offspring, the price of dissent is high, but the fear of what would replace the status quo is even higher, and the Syrian people should not expect sympathies to turn or influential advocates to speak up on their behalf any time soon.

The Arab upheavals of the last six months have made the impossible look almost easy, but the wider the crevasse dividing the two sides, the harder the transition will be. So different are the various visions of the future vying for prominence in Syria that national reconciliation, no matter what reform promises may be made, is going to be very difficult.

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‘Syrische leger ontdekt massagraf in belegerde Jisr-al Shughour’

In de noord-Syrische stad Jisr-al Shughour heeft het leger volgens de Syrische staatstelevisie een massagraf ontdekt. In het graf zouden de lichamen van een onbekend aantal gedode veiligheidstroepen zijn gevonden.

Hoeveel lichamen er in het massagraf zijn gevonden vermeldde de staatstelevisie niet. Het door het regime gecontroleerde tv-kanaal beschuldigde “gewapende groepen” van het maken van de slachtoffers. Afgelopen maandag zouden die groepen 120 veiligheidstroepen hebben gedood.

Mensenrechtenactivisten geloven helemaal niets van de lezing van de Syrische staatstelevisie en stellen dat de veiligheidstroepen door hun collega’s of het leger zijn doodgeschoten omdat ze weigerden op anti-regeringsbetogers te schieten.

Het bericht over de vermeende ontdekking van het massagraf komt nadat het Syrische leger Jisr-al Shughour vanochtend was binnengetrokken. Minstens twee mannen van de “gewapende bendes” zouden zijn gedood en grote aantallen zijn gearresteerd. Wapens die ze in bezit hadden zouden zijn ingenomen.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9692183

Associated Press= BEIRUT (AP) — Under the rattle of heavy gunfire and loud explosions, Syrian troops on Sunday regained control of a restive northwestern town, clashing with mutinous soldiers whose decision to side with armed protesters posed a potent threat to the authoritarian regime.

Backed by helicopter gunships and tanks, army units moved in after dismantling explosives planted on roads and bridges leading to Jisr al-Shughour, Syria's state-run news agency SANA said, reporting "heavy" clashes. Residents who fled to Turkey said thousands of young men, including soldiers and police who switched sides and joined the revolt against President Bashar Assad, had armed themselves and planted dynamite at the town entrances.

Troops on Sunday removed 10 uniformed bodies from a mass grave in front of the Military Police building. At least four of the bodies were beheaded or struck on the head with an ax, according to an Associated Press reporter who was invited to accompany the Syrian forces. The building was burned and there were bloodstains in some rooms, which bolstered the reports of a mutiny last week in the town of 40,000.

Syria's government has said 500 members of the security forces have died, including 120 last week in Jisr al-Shughour. More than 1,400 Syrians have died and some 10,000 have been detained in the government crackdown since mid-March, activists say.

Assad has made some concessions, but thousands of people demonstrating against his rule — inspired by protests in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere — say they will not stop until he leaves power. The mutiny in Idlib province, and the apparent willingness of some outgunned residents to stay behind and fight, was a major departure from what had been a largely peaceful protest movement.

Jisr al-Shughour's streets were deserted at midday — residents said nearly everyone had fled in recent days — and there were piles of debris. Turkey has given sanctuary to more than 5,000 Syrians since the uprising began in mid-March, nearly all of them in the past week from the area around Jisr al-Shughour.

A resident who fled on Sunday said the army shelled Jisr al-Shughour, then tanks and other heavy armor rolled in from two directions.

As the troops advanced, he said, they fought about 60 army defectors, whose fate was unknown. He said about 200 unarmed men who were guarding the town are believed to have been either killed or detained.

The witness, who fled to an area near the Turkish border, did not give his name for fear of government reprisals.

Some Turks in the border village of Guvecci said Syrians on the other side of the frontier were calling them with reports that "smoke was rising from Jisr al-Shugour."

Residents who emerged from their homes Sunday said they were suffering before the troops came. They spoke in the presence of military officers and government officials accompanying the journalists, and it was not clear whether they expressed their views freely. Syrians who speak against the government face retribution and arrest, and few who express anti-government views will allow their names to be used.

"Gunmen were intimidating us. They told us 'the army is coming to kill you and you have to flee the area,'" said Zeina Salloum, 37, after coming out of her home to welcome the advancing troops.

Syria-based human rights activist Mustafa Osso said the advancing troops, believed to be an elite unit led by Assad's younger brother, fought hundreds of army defectors from the area. "This is the biggest and most dangerous wave of defections" since an uprising against Assad's regime began in mid-March, Osso said.

There have been smaller instances of defections in the southern city of Daraa and the western town of Talkalakh, where the military conducted operations in recent weeks.

Osso said there were army operations in three parts of Idlib province including the towns of Maaret al-Numan, Jisr al-Shughour, and the nearby Jabal al-Zawiya, a mountain that includes several villages.

The province has a history of hostility to the regime. Idlib's Muslim Brotherhood population rose up against Assad's father, the late president Hafez Assad, in the late 1970s. Jisr al-Shughour itself came under heavy government bombardment in 1980, with a reported 70 people killed. Residents say the numbers were much higher.

The events proved a prelude to a 1982 three-week bombing campaign against the city of Hama that crushed a Sunni uprising there, killing 10,000 to 25,000 people, according to Amnesty International estimates.

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Associated Press writers Albert Aji in Jisr al-Shughour and Selcan Hacaoglu in Altinozu, Turkey, contributed to this report.

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Follow Bassem Mroue at http://twitter.com/bmroue