Onrust in Syri� #6 - Waar vrijheid als muziek in de oren klinkt.

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Syrians vow to overcome violent crackdown by Assad's troops


'The violence is keeping many at home but it is not breaking the movement' – demonstrators refuse to bow to government pressure

"Every Friday he goes out and I fear he might not come back. We wouldn't know if he was dead or alive," says Ahmed's mother as the young man laces up his black running shoes. The university student straightens up and shouts goodbye to his family as he rushes out of the door to the mosque, promising to be back for lunch.

With the sound of gunshots echoing from a few streets away, Ahmed's mother sits on the sofa and quietly cries. Friday, the day of prayer for many families across the country, has become a day of anxiety over the past three months as children, brothers and fathers and, in lesser numbers, mothers and sisters, take to the streets.

The brutal suppression of protests has left more than 1,400 people dead, including soldiers and security men, since Syria's uprising started, according to estimates by human rights groups.

But rather than deterring demonstrators, the violence has bolstered their determination, adding to their anger at the government that they say offers them no hope.

The crackdown has been particularly intense in Homs, Syria's third most populous city about 100 miles north of Damascus. Regime tanks move around the neighbourhoods, leaving indents from their tracks on the roads lined by concrete low-rise buildings. Gunfire has become as common a sound on the streets as the ever-present honking of car horns, and the heightened security presence is obvious. But despite the violence, resistance has been fierce.

All around the country protests are dominated by young men such as Ahmed, lacking in work opportunities and dealing on a daily basis with corruption.

"We are meant to be able to buy a house before we get married but there are no jobs and everything has become expensive," says one man in Damascus, sitting in the courtyard of the house where he lives with his family. "We have neither a job nor can we start a family."

This anger is fuelling demonstrations from the hot and dusty eastern city of Deir Ezzor, where residents, many from powerful tribes, have come out in their thousands, to Deraa, the southern hub surrounded by agricultural lands where demonstrators still took to the streets even after their city was besieged. They are being aided by people of all backgrounds working behind the scenes, from family members to total strangers, women and men, young and old.

"They are trying to fight for their futures," says Ahmed's father, who often acts as a lookout while his son is on the streets. Although he fears for his son's safety, he supports the cause and would not stop him going out. "I too have had enough," he says.

His views are echoed by others of his age. Dressed in jeans and a checked shirt, a 50-year-old manual worker sitting on the balcony of one of many sandy-coloured block of flats in Homs says he has started a committee in his neighbourhood, trying to give a backbone to a spontaneous uprising not sparked by Facebook or any organised opposition. The committee draws posters and caricatures to take to the street and draws up slogans to emphasise unity between the religions.

The founder is trying to reach out to other small committees he knows have popped up in other areas of the city and in cities and villages beyond. "By showing we have a plan, more people, including doctors and professors, have come out," he says. "The violence is keeping many at home but it is not breaking the movement." Instead, he says, people are angry at citizens being shot dead.

The man, like most in Syria, asked not to be identified by name. He says rich families have been helping people from Bab al-Sbaa, his relatively poor neighbourhood, which has been among the most restive. "They are paying for rent and food so that people who have lost money because of the economy or have lost fathers in the violence don't have to worry," he says.

One such donor, a businessman father of two who asks that neither his name nor town is mentioned, runs prayer beads through his fingers as he explains how and why he is giving money to support people in besieged towns.

"I am appalled by the cutting off of towns such as Deraa and Rastan and I use relations and contacts from my work to find out what these towns need," he says. He has bought food and medicine for men to pick up and take to those places – often smuggled in using elaborate systems such as pulleys. "It is not just young people who want change," he says. "Perhaps I can best help this way."

From towns and cities across the country come reports of doctors moving round houses and setting up field clinics to help people too afraid to go to hospital, and religious leaders who have spoken out and tried to smooth relations between Syria's sects. Families have opened their houses to protesters fleeing from security forces, who are bussed into areas where protests break out.

"I was running away from the security agents and a woman opened the door and pulled me in," says one young professional, walking in the streets in the Damascus neighbourhood of Midan, an area of sweet shops and neon lights where families gather in the evening but which has turned into an area of chants and teargas on many a Friday. "I sat there until it was safe to go home."

Computer experts have been helping protesters upload videos to YouTube, which has become the primary way of getting out information. They have also made short films and cartoons mocking the regime. And, of course, activists have supported protesters by liaising with media and publishing information. This support is bolstering resistance to the regime and allowing protesters to go out on a daily basis.

In her office in Homs, a young mother prints paper signs with the date and location to take out to a women's demonstration. Wearing black jeans and a blouse, she adjusts her headscarf and pulls down her sunglasses to conceal her identity. She grabs a camera and heads out for the 20-minute protest that will keep her safe but show that women are supporting the anti-government movement.

Night protests have become routine, from the coastal city of Latakia to the Damascus area of Qaboun. For those too fearful to go outside, sit-ins are held inside private homes, taped, and the videos uploaded to the internet.

In Homs, Ahmed eventually returns home safely, eager to talk about another day on the streets. Between 500 and 800 people came out of his mosque, he says, others joined, they called for freedom and the toppling of the regime, then they broke off before security forces could arrive.

Smothered in relieved embraces from his family, Ahmed eats, simultaneously talking on his mobile to organise the next demonstration. Finished, he heads out to the gym – training, he jokes, to be able to sprint away quickly – as gunfire continues to ring out in the background.

All names have been changed to protect identity. Nidaa Hassan is a pseudonym for a journalist working in Damascus

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9.45am: ITV's Middle East correspondent John Ray managed to sneak across the border into Syria to film around the besieged town of Jisr al-Shughour.

"We can't go back to our homes, because if we went back the army and security would kill us," one resident of the town told him.

Ray and his cameraman filmed armed men in the area and makeshift rebel checkpoints. "We saw a few men with guns, but it doesn't amount to an armed uprising," Ray reported.

They also filmed a man in what appeared to an army uniform chanting alongside anti-government protesters.

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Op donderdag 16 juni 2011 11:15 schreef anabolefreak het volgende:

[..]

LOL, dit was in damascus. Vandaag zijn er pro-Assad demo's in alle andere grote steden...

Welke rest van het land is tegen hem? ROFL. die 1%?

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Where the Arab spring will end is anyone's guess, writes the Guardian's Middle East editor Ian Black,

But it is striking how Arab unrest has become a permanent feature of the global landscape. It is unfinished business wherever it is happening.

For the moment Syria remains the most volatile country and the key place to watch. The Syria tycoon and opposition hate figure Rami Makhlouf is to give up his business interests, in a move being seen as a sign that the regime is wobbling.

Maklouf, is a cousin of the president Bashar al-Assad, a key figure in his inner circle and a target of protester's anger. They frequently chant slogan against him and in March tried to burn down the headquarters of his telecommunications business.

The decision comes as thousands of Syrian are again expected to take part in anti-government protests after Friday prayers.

Last month in an infamous interview with the New York Times Makhlouf said the regime will fight to the end.

Anthony Shadid, who conducted the interview, outlined the significance of Makhlouf's apparent removal from power.

The move, if true, would suggest that Assad was so concerned about the continuing protests that he would sacrifice a relative to public anger.

Diplomats also told Shadid that Assad is preparing to address the nation on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Syrian writer Robin Yassin-Kassab argues that Turkey could intervene in the crisis to create a safe haven for refugees in north that could also act as a rebel base.

If many more refugees join the 8,500 who have fled to Turkey, [prime minister] Erdogan may order a limited occupation of Syrian territory to establish a "safe haven". That – the regime's inability to hold a section of the homeland – may prove a tipping point. It could also offer Syria its Benghazi, a base for organised resistance.

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Op vrijdag 17 juni 2011 14:11 schreef anabolefreak het volgende:

[..]

iedereeen heeft wapens. en waar haal jij vandaan dat alawieten bewapend worden??

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Propaganda?
Heb je onder een steen geleeft ofzo? Niet meegekregen wat er in Irak gaande is?
Of heb je niet meegekregen dat er flink wat aanvallen zijn uitgevoerd op Koptische kerken.
En jij durft dat propaganda te noemen? Jij bent zeker zo'n figuur die de multiculti ook geslaagd vind en geen problemen ziet met bepaalde bevolkingsgroepen hier?

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Syria's richest man promises massive charity giveaway


Opponents dismiss announcement by Assad supporter Rami Makhlouf as violence follows Friday prayers around Syria

The announcement by Syria's richest man, regime heavyweight Rami Makhlouf, that he will give most of the profits from his business empire to charity has been met with widespread scepticism in Damascus and beyond.

Makhlouf has become a lightning rod for dissent against the Syrian regime as protesters again took to the streets in large numbers on Friday demanding an end to the excesses that they claim the 41-year-old tycoon represents and the ousting of the ruling family to which he is central.

Makhlouf's announcement is seen by some analysts as a sign that President Bashar al-Assad has become so concerned at the momentum of the protest movement that he is prepared to sacrifice his first cousin to retain power.

Syrian opposition figures and some Damascus residents, however, interpreted it as mere window dressing. "What Rami is putting on the line is nothing new," said opposition member Amr al-Azm, a professor at Shawnee University in Ohio. "This is not his fortune. He is the family banker and it was not their money to take in the first place."

A businessman in Damascus added: "This is a regime specialised in cosmetic change so I don't believe anything they say and do. If they were sincere they would start real reform with changes to the constitution."

Syrian leaders are facing increasing economic sanctions from the US and Europe, which have indicated they may target Assad's personal assets. "They have got rid of what assets could be grabbed [under sanctions] and are now clearing the decks of those that cannot," said Azm. "They are trying to explain it in a way that is useful to them."

"It makes no difference to us," said a Damascus office worker. "At this stage, people want the whole regime to go."

The announcement was made before Friday prayers, which for the past 12 weeks have been a precursor to demonstrations across the country. This Friday was no different, as security forces responded to protests with lethal force, reportedly killing at least 19 people.

Demonstrations took place in Hama, the commercial hub of Aleppo and the north-eastern tribal area, including the town of Deir al-Azzor, which has been largely free of the violence seen elsewhere in the country.

About 9,000 Syrians have now fled into southern Turkey in the face of the army's assault on the town of Jisr al-Shughour and nearby enclaves. Turkish media reported that Ankara may deploy soldiers beyond its border in an effort to protect civilians, who continue to stream from north-west Syria. The rights group Avaaz said it had compiled a list of 73 residents in Jisr al-Shughour who had been detained this week when they returned to their homes.

In a further sign that the instability in Syria is spreading, three people were killed in northern Lebanon on Friday as a standoff between Sunni Muslims and Allawites, who are from the ruling sect in Damascus, spiralled into violence. The Lebanese army sent in troops in an effort to calm the situation, which represents the most serious sectarian flare-up in Lebanon since the Syrian uprising began.

In an interview last month with the New York Times, Makhlouf warned of instability in neighbouring Lebanon and Israel if pressure on the Assad regime continued. His unusually candid remarks are thought to have angered Assad, who has repeatedly characterised the most serious threat to the four-decade regime as a subversive plot from foreign-backed armed gangs.

Assad's reformist credentials have rapidly eroded over the past three months, in which security forces have repeatedly attacked protesters, killing as many as 1,400 people. The embattled leader has indicated he will soon deliver a landmark speech, which advisers say could change the tone of the past four months.

An earlier speech he gave in late-March was poorly received outside of his power base and did nothing to quell the violence. Makhlouf's purported move from the regime's financial tsar to philanthropy is being seen as a preparation for the speech.

"They needed to sacrifice something," said Rami Nakhle, an opposition figure in Beirut. "So getting rid of Makhlouf was easy. But he isn't really going. If they put him on trial instead that would bring a positive reaction from protesters.

"So far it is just a new game, he was the symbol of corruption in Syria. He was managing the Assad family business. They need to prove to people through genuine signals that they are really moving towards reforms."

Nidaa Hassan is the pseudonym of a journalist working in Damascus

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Libanon zet leger in na gevechten havenstad Tripoli

In de Libanese stad Tripoli is het leger vandaag ingezet nadat er zeven doden vielen bij gevechten tussen Alawieten en soennitische moslims.

De twee groepen schoten met raketten en machinegeweren op elkaar. Daarbij kwam onder andere een Libanese soldaat om het leven. Volgens medische bronnen raakten zo’n 25 mensen gewond. Het leger werd vanochtend ingezet om de orde en veiligheid in de stad te handhaven. Soldaten patrouilleren door de stad en hebben wachtposten ingesteld.

In de tweede stad van Libanon braken de gevechten uit na demonstraties tegen het regime van de Syrische president Bashar al-Assad. Er zou aanzienlijke schade zijn aangericht in de stad, meldt persbureau AFP. Alawieten zijn een sjiitische-islamitische groepering uit het Midden-Oosten, waar Assad ook deel van uit maakt.

De afgelopen jaren was havenstad Tripoli het toneel van botsingen tussen de soennitische aanhangers van oud-premier Saad Hariri, die nu in de oppositie zit en de Alawietische aanhangers van Hezbollah die nu een meerderheid heeft in de Libanese regering.

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Tienduizenden bij begrafenissen in Syri�


Bij een begrafenis van twee betogers in de Syrische stad Deir ez-Zor waren vandaag zo’n 70.000 mensen aanwezig. De twee betogers werden gisteren in die stad gedood door veiligheidstroepen. Dit meldt persbureau AFP.

De menigte was boos en ze scandeerden leuzen tegen het regime van president Al-Bashar, meldt de directeur van het Observatory for Human Rights in Syri�, Rami Abdel Rahman.

Ook in Homs waren duizenden op de been bij een begrafenis van vijf mensen die gisteren werden gedood toen veiligheidstroepen het vuur opende op de demonstranten.

In Douma werd een betoger begraven, waar de aanwezigen een sit-in hielden bij de grote moskee in die stad.

Vrijdag werden grote anti-regeringsbetogingen gehouden in Syri�. Ze werden gewelddadig neergeslagen door de regering, waarbij zeker 19 mensen omkwamen volgens mensenrechtenactivisten.

Volgens de organisatie van Rahman zijn sinds het begin van de protesten in Syri� op 15 maart 1309 burgers en 341 leden van de veiligheidstroepen omgekomen.

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Syri� blokkeert hulproute vluchtelingen

Het Syrische leger heeft een grensdorp afgesloten dat brood en andere levensmiddelen leverde aan de duizenden Syrische vluchtelingen net over de grens in Turkije. Het leger heeft de bakker neergeschoten en de bossen rond het dorp Bdama in brand gestoken, meldde de 23-jarige Raka El-Abdu die uit het dorp is gevlucht.

Het dorp Bdama is nu grotendeels verlaten, vertelden getuigen vandaag. 'De mensen die zijn achtergebleven in het dorp, werken voor het regime.' Het leger heeft controleposten opgesteld op toegangswegen naar het dorp, enkele kilometers van de grens. De militairen arresteren iedereen die heeft gedemonstreerd.

De vluchtelingen krijgen toch nog eten en drinken. De Turkse regering is begonnen levensmiddelen te verstrekken, meldden hulporganisaties. Aan de Turkse grens staan tentenkampen met ruim 10.000 vluchtelingen uit Syri�.

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Rode Kruis en Syri� onderhandelen over humanitaire hulp

De president van het Rode Kruis gaat naar Syri� om te overleggen met de autoriteiten over hulpverlening. Dat maakte de hulporganisatie vandaag bekend.

Jakob Kellenberger arriveert vanavond in de hoofdstad Damascus. Hij zal twee dagen overleg voeren. In het land is sinds maart een opstand tegen het regime van president Bashar al-Assad gaande.

'De gesprekken zullen zich concentreren op de humanitaire situatie in Syri� en de rol die het Rode Kruis bereid is te spelen teneinde hulp te geven aan de mensen getroffen door het voortdurende geweld', aldus een verklaring van het Rode Kruis. Kellenberger spreekt onder anderen met de premier en de minister van Buitenlandse Zaken.

Op 10 juni riep het Rode Kruis de Syrische regering nog op de organisatie grotere toegang te geven tot de burgerbevolking, incluis mensen die gewond zijn geraakt of opgepakt door het leger.

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Syrische troepen houden vluchtelingen tegen

Syrische troepen vallen burgers aan die mensen helpen naar Turkije willen vluchten.

Dat melden Syrische mensenrechtenactivitsten aan persbureau Reuters. Volgens activist Ammara Qurabi blokkeren militairen en aanhangers van president Bashar al-Assad de wegen naar Turkije bij de noord-Syrische stad Jisr-al Shughour, waardoor duizenden mensen gestrand zijn.

Mensen die de vluchtelingen in de stad Bdama te hulp schoten, werden volgens Qurabi aangevallen. Syrische troepen zouden daar huizen in brand gestoken hebben en tientallen mensen gearresteerd hebben.

De Turkse regering riep donderdag Syri� op om onmiddellijk een einde te maken aan het gewelddadig optreden tegen vreedzame anti-regeringsbetogers. Ook willen de Turken dat het regime van Assad democratische hervormingen doorvoert.

Vrijdag werden grote anti-regeringsbetogingen gehouden in Syri�. Ze werden gewelddadig neergeslagen door de regering, waarbij zeker 19 mensen omkwamen volgens mensenrechtenactivisten.

Sinds het begin van het gewelddadige optreden van de Syrische regering tegen activisten en demonstranten zouden al meer dan veertienhonderd Syri�rs de dood hebben gevonden. Tienduizenden mensen zijn ingerekend, terwijl nog eens duizenden voor het geweld zijn gevlucht.

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

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Syrische oppositie vormt ‘Nationale Raad’

Politieke tegenstanders van de Syrische president Bashar al-Assad hebben een Nationale Raad opgericht met als doel het regime omver te werpen.

In een verklaring laat de raad weten dat de leden afkomstig zijn uit alle Syrische gemeenschappen. Ook zouden er veel bekende oppositieleden uit binnen-en buitenland lid zijn van de organisatie, meldt persbureau AFP. De raad roept alle Syri�rs op om Assad voor de rechter te slepen voor het geweld dat hij inzet tegen zijn volk.

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