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

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Western journalists return to Syria


Return of press for first time since being expelled in March suggests Syrian regime willing to engage in propaganda war

A trickle of western journalists is being allowed back in to Damascus – under close supervision by government minders – suggesting Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's regime is sufficiently concerned about its hold on power to be willing to engage in a foreign propaganda war.

Sky News anchor Jeremy Thompson was reporting from Damascus on Friday, and CNN's Arwan Damon, who is of Syrian and American descent, broadcast from the capital on Thursday. The Sunday Times has a reporter in the country, but declined to confirm their identity on Friday.

Foreign journalists were expelled from the country shortly after unrest began in March, and have been concentrating their efforts on the Turkish border, where Syrians have been gathering in refugee camps to escape military crackdowns.

Speaking during a government-arranged tour of the apparently quiet streets of Damascus today, Thompson said: "The very fact that we are here, the first foreign journalists to be allowed visas in three or four months ... suggests that the government is concerned that its message isn't getting out, that the rest of the world misunderstands what they're doing ... and if anything that the propaganda machine of the opposition... is winning the hearts and minds at the moment."

Thompson is hoping to speak to members of the Assad government in the next few days and claimed that the feeling within Damascus was that if he were to lose his grip on power "it could bring terrible instability and most people don't want that despite the protest movement in this country".

Thompson secured his 15-day visa shortly after an interview with Assad adviser Bouthaina Shaaban on Monday. Sky News executives spent the following days requesting permission to return to Syria from Shaaban, fellow Syrian spokesperson Reema Haddad and the Syrian embassy in London.

Head of international news Sarah Whitehead attributed the breakthrough to "good old-fashioned news gathering persistence".

It is understood there are no formal reporting restrictions, but Thompson will need to tread carefully. Whitehead said: "We are there because the Syrians have given us a visa and we hope to report as freely as we can but we'll have to see how it develops over the coming days."

Thompson currently anchors Live at Five with Jeremy Thompson. A seasoned foreign correspondent, he has reported on dozens of wars and conflicts for the BBC and ITN. In 1999, he was the first TV newsman to broadcast live as British peacekeeping forces rolled into Kosovo.

CNN's Damon filmed in Damascus on Thursday, accompanied by minders, and was shown street vendors selling pro-government paraphernalia and a restaurant speaker blaring music in praise of Bashar.

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

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Syrische oppositie wil maandag overleg

Opposanten van het regime in Syri� willen maandag overleg voeren om te bekijken hoe de crisis kan worden opgelost. Dit zei de voorzitter van de Syrische Liga voor de Mensenrechten, Abdel Karim Rihawi, vandaag. 'We spreken om te komen tot de formulering van een nationale strategie om de huidige crisis in Syri� te be�indigen', aldus Rihawi. Hij beklemtoonde dat hij niet namens 'de demonstranten in de straat' kon spreken.

Het zou gaan om ongeveer 100 personen die niet aan een politieke partij of beweging verbonden zijn, inclusief de schrijvers Fayez Sara en Louai Hussein. Sinds half maart slaat het regime van president Bashar al-Assad bloedig protesten tegen het bewind en voor democratie neer.

Volgens mensenrechtenactivisten zijn sinds half maart 1332 burgers gedood. Ook zouden 341 leden van de politie, de geheime diensten of strijdkrachten zijn omgekomen. Deze cijfers zijn exclusief de vier doden die zaterdag zijn gemeld.

Militairen hebben in Kassir, in de omgeving van de stad Homs, twee burgers doodgeschoten volgens activisten. In Kiswah, ten zuiden van Damascus, schoten militairen op een begrafenisstoet. Daarbij vielen twee doden. De begrafenis was van een van de 18 mensen die vrijdag zijn doodgeschoten tijdens grote betogingen tegen het regime.

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Syria reinforces northern border as Turkey loses patience with Assad

Advance on Khirbet al-Jouz seen as a warning after Ankara seeks reforms and end to crackdown on Syrian protesters

Syrian officials have ordered military units to step up patrolling near the Turkish border in a warning to its increasingly irate northern neighbour not to establish a buffer zone inside Syria.

Diplomats in Ankara and Beirut believe the Syrian advance on the border village of Khirbet al-Jouz, initially portrayed as a sweep against dissidents, was a veiled threat to Turkey, which is steadily turning on President Bashar al-Assad as his regime's crackdown on dissent continues.

In the wake of Assad's speech last week, Turkish officials gave him one week to start reforms and stop the violent suppression of protests, which is estimated to have killed more than 1,400 people in less than four months. At least 18 were killed and dozens more wounded during nationwide protests on Friday – a relatively low toll compared with the past few Fridays. But the pattern of activists being attacked by the security forces remains the same.

British government officials travelled during the week to the south of Turkey to interview Syrian refugees. A Foreign Office official told the Observer that diplomats are compiling accounts of what happened in Jisr al-Shughour and the villages around it during the first two weeks of this month, when the Syrian army mounted a series of raids, followed by an assault that led almost every resident of the 41,000-strong town to flee, first for the nearby hills, then to Turkey.

Among the allegations being investigated are claims that Iranian soldiers operated alongside Syrian units – especially the Fourth Division of the army, which is led by Assad's brother Maher and has a reputation for ruthlessness.

The European Union last week adopted sanctions against three leading officers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, among them Qassem Suleimani, commander of the elite Al-Quds force, who is widely regarded as the leader of all the Iranian military's clandestine missions abroad.

A senior diplomat in Beirut said on Friday that intelligence agencies had evidence that Iran sent weapons to Syria, but had not yet determined whether there had been an actual Iranian presence at demonstrations.

In a further sign of Turkish unease with Damascus, officials from the country's Red Crescent who run the five refugee camps along the border no longer seem to be banned from talking to reporters. Embarrassment to Syria has clearly become less of a concern.

Refugee accounts are being used to compile a referral to the international criminal court, which will be asked to prosecute Assad and key regime officials for crimes against humanity. The referral is being prepared by several rights groups, including Insan, which is also compiling testimonies from defecting Syrian soldiers.

Turkey's growing diplomatic anger at Syria has made Istanbul an attractive hub for the Syrian opposition movement, which has received scores of defectors in recent weeks. Beirut, which is less than three hours' drive from Damascus and offers easy access to Syrian citizens, is now considered too dangerous for anti-regime dissidents. "It is a clearing house only," said one Syrian activist who directs a network of dissidents across the border. "There are many ways that the regime can get to people here – they don't even have to be here themselves. They just use their proxies."

One Syrian journalist who fled to Beirut has told the rights group Avaaz of his capture by Lebanese military intelligence officers. The journalist says he was seized from a coffee shop in Jounieh, 25km north of Beirut. He said he was first asked by a stranger to step outside for a conversation, then seized and taken to a fetid barracks where he was interrogated for several days.

"During the days I spent in Beirut, some other Syrian activists were kidnapped and extradited to the Syrian security police," he said. "The Lebanese authorities have also captured the few fugitive Syrian soldiers who had fled Syria through the borders, and then turned them in to Syria, claiming that it had to because of the security agreement signed between the two countries."

At least 1,000 refugees crossed into Lebanon at the Wadi Khalled border point on Friday, including five men with gunshot wounds, after an assault on the Syrian city of Homs, according to Lebanese officials. A resident of the border village told the Observer that Syrian army units had opened fire towards the wounded as they attempted to enter Lebanon.

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A report in the Sunday Telegraph says:

In a worrying sign for Mr Assad and his ability to portray the uprising as a provincial sign show, there is growing evidence that the protest movement is closing in on his two principal strongholds [Aleppo and Damascus]...

After mosque prayers on Friday, when the biggest demonstrations traditionally take place, at least 20 protesters were killed across the country. But, for the first time, a majority of the fatalities were on the outskirts of Damascus.

The capital's residents are all too aware of the rising tension. "Damascus is not the place it was even a week ago," one of its inhabitants, Rami, said. "Anything can happen anywhere now.

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Op maandag 27 juni 2011 14:36 schreef Monidique het volgende:

[..]

Khaddafi is een Libi�r. Zijn leger bestaat voornamelijk uit Libi�rs.

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Op maandag 27 juni 2011 16:38 schreef t-8one het volgende:

[..]

Die huurlingen blijven het wel lang volhouden vind ik.

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Syrian army defector says he was told to shoot unarmed protesters

During a month stationed in Deraa, neither Wasid nor any of his fellow conscripts saw a single armed demonstrator

Wasid, a young Syrian conscript, set off for the town of Deraa in late April filled with the zeal of a soldier going to war. "We were going to fight terrorists," he said.

But less than a day after arriving in Deraa, Wasid was making plans to defect.

The Syrian regime has cast the uprising as a conflict between a loyal military and a large and highly mobile group of heavily armed foreign-backed insurgents, roaming the country attempting to ignite sectarian strife.

Over three hours in an Istanbul safe house, the 20-year-old soldier described events in the southern town where the wave of dissent that has swept Syria first broke out. The young defector's account starkly contradicts the official narrative.

"As soon as we got there, the officers told us not to shoot at the men carrying guns. They said they [the gunmen] were with us. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It had all been lies."

In the month they were stationed there, neither Wasid nor any of his colleagues saw any demonstrators with weapons in Deraa or the nearby town of Izraa.

And instead of confronting armed insurgents, the unit was given orders to shoot protesters.

"I could not believe what I was hearing – to leave alone the people carrying guns. It shocked me," he said. "We are soldiers and soldiers do not shoot at civilians."

In the weeks leading up his deployment with the Syrian army's 14 division, commanders had given regular briefings on the "violence" ahead. Wasid was convinced he would soon be in combat.

"When we were at the base in Damascus before we left for Deraa, we were not allowed to watch television at all, except for two hours each day when we could watch Rami Makhlouf's channel," he said [Makhlouf, a tycoon, is president Bashar al-Assad's first cousin].

"All they showed were armed groups roaming the villages. I found out later that these groups were on our [the regime's] side – they were the Shabiyeh."

According to Wasid, the Shabiyeh – ghosts – were the only civilian gunmen in town. Their group has strong links to the military and has developed a reputation over recent bloody months of being willing to do dirty work in troublesome towns and villages.

"The first day we arrived there, 24 April, the Shabiyeh came to the base to speak with our officers. It was clear that the relationship was close."

Wasid showed the Guardian his military ID and application for refugee status, copies of which have been kept.

He does not want his real name or photograph used out of fear that his family may be targeted for reprisals.

After many weeks of military crackdowns, the government is now on a diplomatic and media offensive.

Officials are pushing their version of events to a few correspondents who were last week allowed to enter Syria for the first time since March.

The official account has given particular emphasis to claims that Sunni Islamic groups have either initiated or hijacked the uprising's agenda.

"I never saw an Islamist or anybody that resembled one," said Wasid. "And nor did anyone else with me."

He estimated that about 30% of his unit were disaffected with the military.

But neither dissent nor defection are easy in Syria, where conscripts are paid $9 (�6) each month.

"One guy – I only know his name as Wael, he was from the east – told an officer that what we were doing was wrong. The next day he was killed. They said he had been shot by terrorists."

Nevertheless, by 25 May, Wasid and 20 others had mustered the courage to attempt to escape.

He ditched his military fatigues – and the sniper rifle which he had never used – and ran with the group to the highway, where a van took them to Damascus.

"Once we got there, we agreed we would go separate directions. I stayed in Damascus for three days and then left for Turkey. I don't know where the others went."

He crossed the border in the Kurdish northeast of Syria and made his way by bus to Istanbul, where the UNHCR and rights group Avaaz are providing him with help.

Wasid's testimony will be used in a referral to the international criminal court being prepared by another group, Insan.

Four other defectors from Deraa have made their way to Amman in recent days and are also briefing investigators.

Defections have been regularly reported during the uprising, but on a small scale.

Apart from the apparent mutiny of half a base in the northern town of Jisr al-Shughour (where Syrian officials claim soldiers were massacred by terrorists), none of the defections have been large enough to pose a threat to command and control of the army.

Wasid says his anger is directed not at the government, which he believes betrayed him, but at his army colleagues who stayed behind despite also seeing what he had seen in Deraa.

"There were around 100 people each week killed there. They were civilians.

"If I see my colleagues again, not only will I tell others what they have done, but I will find their families and tell them too. And then I will hurt them."

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Op dinsdag 28 juni 2011 13:04 schreef anabolefreak het volgende:

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Arme mensen, ze gaan gewoon vrijwillig terug, ze gaan de dood tegemoet, het wrede syrische leger zal ze opwachten en doden........ Of toch niet?

Wel vreemd he dat mensen die eerst vluchten nu vrijwillig terug gaan....
En dat terwijl men ons probeert te doen geloven dat het leger daar iedereen afmaakt.. Of zou het leger dan daadwerkelijk gewapende bendes hebben uitgemoord/verjaagd zodat deze mensen weer veilig terug durven te gaan?

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Op dinsdag 28 juni 2011 13:23 schreef anabolefreak het volgende:
De syrische oppositie overlegt publiekelijk in Damascus over hoe verder te gaan..... :

Syria opposition figures meet in Damascus

En ze worden niet eens zomaar doodgeschoten? wow!

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Op dinsdag 28 juni 2011 13:27 schreef anabolefreak het volgende:

[..]

En maar zeggen dat er geen hervormingen worden doorgevoert...

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Op dinsdag 28 juni 2011 13:34 schreef anabolefreak het volgende:

[..]

Door wie? onder welke omstandigheden? gewapend of ongewapend?

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Op dinsdag 28 juni 2011 13:33 schreef anabolefreak het volgende:

[..]

actie - reactie.

Ondanks dat een kleine minderheid demonstreet krijg je natuurlijk toch wel resultaat als je het land een aantal maanden frustreert . Feit is echter wel dat men de zittende overheid nu een kans moet geven dingen door te voeren.

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Op dinsdag 28 juni 2011 13:39 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]

Oh, dat weet je niet? Je hebt dus alleen maar een mening en een voorkeur, en je zoekt of verzint "feiten" om die te ondersteunen.

Duidelijk

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Op dinsdag 28 juni 2011 13:50 schreef anabolefreak het volgende:

[..]

jij weet het blijkbaar wel?? of neem je ook alleen maar aan wat ooggetuigen roepen?

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Syria: US-backed plan for reform leaves Bashar al-Assad in place

US state department encouraging discussion of draft document which circulated at opposition talks, sources say

The US is promoting a "roadmap" for political reforms in Syria which would transform the regime of Bashar al-Assad but leave him in place for now – despite demands for his overthrow during the country's bloody three-month uprising.

Syrian opposition sources have revealed that the US state department has been discreetly encouraging discussion of the unpublished draft document which circulated at an unprecedented opposition conference held on Monday in Damascus. The US ambassador is urging dialogue with the regime, the sources say.

Assad would oversee what the roadmap calls "a secure and peaceful transition to civil democracy". It calls for tighter control over the security forces, the disbanding of "Shabiha" gangs accused of atrocities, the legal right to peaceful demonstrations, extensive media freedoms, and the appointment of a transitional assembly.

The carefully phrased 3,000-word document demands a "clear and frank apology" and accountability for organisations and individuals who "failed to accommodate legitimate protests", and compensation for the families of victims of repression. The opposition says 1,400 people have been killed since mid-March. The government says 500 members of the security forces have died.

It does not attack the president or other regime figures by name. It calls for the ruling Ba'ath party to be subject to a new law on political parties – though the party would still provide 30 of 100 members for a proposed transitional national assembly. Seventy others would be appointed by the president in consultation with opposition nominees – which will still leave Assad in a powerful position.

Several of the proposed measures have already been mentioned in public by Assad, fuelling speculation he is at least partially following through on some of the document's recommendations.

The roadmap is signed by Louay Hussein and Maan Abdelsalam, leading secular intellectuals in a group called the National Action Committee. Both men met the vice-president, Farouk al-Sharaa, before Assad's most recent speech, diplomats said. On Monday they chaired the Damascus conference, which had official permission, was attended by 150 people – and was publicly welcomed by the US.

Wael Sawah, another member of the group, is an adviser to the US embassy in Damascus but did not sign the text, apparently so as not to discredit it in the eyes of Syrians suspicious of foreign meddling.

Quiet US backing for the roadmap dovetails with public demands from Washington that Assad reform or step down. Robert Ford, the US ambassador, has been urging opposition figures to talk to the regime, said Radwan Ziadeh, a leading exile who insisted the strategy would not work. "They are asking Bashar to lead the transition and this is not acceptable to the protesters," he said. "It is too late."

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has said Assad is losing legitimacy and is not indispensable because of his country's strategic position in the Middle East. But the US has not called openly for his overthrow – in striking contrast to policy towards Muammar Gaddafi in Libya.

"It would be a big mistake if the Americans tried to influence this initiative and a mistake for the opposition to let them," warned a prominent Syrian intellectual with close links to the regime. "I would advise them to distance themselves from the US."

A US state department spokesman said: "We are encouraging genuine dialogue between the opposition and the regime but we are not promoting anything. We want to see a democratic Syria but this is in the hands of the Syrian people."

Opposition figures are deeply divided over the way ahead, though even those arguing for engagement with the regime are far from certain it will work: "The situation may be at such an impasse that it precludes opportunities for co-operation and political dialogue and the feasibility of any proposal for reconciliation," the text warns.

Worries are growing that the regime may be recovering its poise in the absence of significant defections from the military, government or business elite.

Joshua Landis, a Syria expert at the University of Oklahoma, said: "The US approach makes sense. Sanctions are a slippery slope and they're not going to intervene militarily in Syria. They have to explore what this regime is capable of."

Others warn Assad may be flirting with these ideas to buy time and improve his battered image. "This is a blueprint for reform in Syria that would leave the regime in place," warned one opposition figure. "It's the minimum to keep the west happy. The regime wants to co-opt the opposition and independent intellectuals to create an official opposition and sideline others and paint them as being in collusion with foreign enemies. How can I give legitimacy to Bashar al-Assad when there are a million people on the streets demanding he be removed?"

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Syrian army sweeps through villages as protests gather pace

Activists dismiss government attempts to reclaim reform agenda and boost credibility as public relations campaign

Demonstrations intensified and a government crackdown continued on Thursday despite attempts by the Syrian regime to reclaim the reform agenda and boost its international credibility.

Activists dismissed the moves as a public relations campaign as the army swept through villages in the north-western province of Idleb. Tanks entered the villages of Ihsim and forces were gathered close to several other villages in the district of Jebel Zawiya, activists reported.

Ten people have been killed since Wednesday in the border area despite a report by Syrian state media agency Sana earlier this week that the army operation in the area had finished.

Earlier Sana said the army was chasing terrorists who the government claims killed 120 security agents in Jisr al-Shughour on 6 June, but activists insist troops are looking for army defectors.

Meanwhile, gunfire was reported in the southern city of Deraa, according to the Local Co-ordination Committees. A resident of Deraa said that for residents of the city "the regime has fallen". But she said the situation remained tense with army and security forces in control and curfews from 2pm to 5pm and from 10pm until the morning.

Elsewhere peaceful protests are being allowed. Army and security forces have withdrawn from the city of Hama, south of Aleppo, according to residents who described it as having been "liberated" for more than two weeks.

"There are currently no posters of the president, no security forces and no checkpoints," said one young woman.

More than 70 protesters were killed in Hama, Syria's fourth most populous city, on 4 June. Two members of the security forces were killed by angry mourners at the funerals that followed.

Wissam Tarif, of the human rights group Insan, claims the forces have withdrawn because they are overstretched. Syria's army is weak by regional standards and experts say it would struggle to cope with simultaneous mass uprisings.

But some commentators suggest Hama is being left as the government tries to calm the situation before dialogue and as international condemnation has grown.

Any crackdown would be likely to inflame a city deeply scarred by a previous crackdown in the 1980s. In the face of an Islamist uprising the government of then-president Hafez al-Assad launched a brutal army assault on Hama which killed at least 20,000 people, many of them civilians.

"But leaving the city for good is not a solution because huge protests now go on every night," said one resident.

Protests appear to be growing outside Hama too. A group of 300 lawyers protested outside the palace of justice in Aleppo, the northern commercial hub which has remained relatively quiet. Demonstrations were reported in at least three areas of the city on Thursday after the Syrian Revolution 2011 Facebook page called for 1 million people to come out. Protests also took place in Raqqa, a largely Bedouin city in the centre of the country.

On Wednesday the US treasury added new people to its list of sanctions on Syria, including head of the air force intelligence chief Major General Jamil Hassan.

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A roadmap for Syria (in English)

Syrian sources have revealed that the US state department is promoting a roadmap for political reforms that would transform Bashar al-Assad's regime – but leave him in place

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Honderdduizenden Syri�rs betogen tegen president Assad

In verschillende Syrische steden zijn vanmiddag volgens persbureaus en activisten honderdduizenden mensen de straat opgegaan om te demonstreren tegen het regime van president Bashar al-Assad. Bij de protesten vielen volgens activisten zes doden.

Niet veel vaker demonstreerden zoveel mensen in Syri� tegelijkertijd tegen het regime. Een anonieme activist zei tegen persbureau AFP dat alleen al in de centrale stad Homs vanmiddag rond de 400.000 betogers op de been waren. In Hama, een andere grote centraal gelegen stad, waren volgens activisten meer dan 200.000 mensen op straat.

Bij beschietingen door ordetroepen kwamen in Homs naar verluidt drie mensen om. Ook andere de grens met Turkije zijn volgens het Syrisch Observatorium voor Mensenrechten drie mensen gedood. Ordetroepen zouden daar geschoten hebben op Syri�rs die het land vanwege het aanhoudende geweld probeerden te ontvluchten.

De internationale druk op Syri� blijft intussen toenemen. De Amerikaanse minister van Buitenlandse Zaken Hillary Clinton zei vanochtend in Litouwen dat de tijd dringt voor het Syrische regime om serieus werk te maken van hervormingen. “Anders komt zijn regime tegenover een toenemend georganiseerde oppositie te staan”, aldus Clinton.

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Op zondag 3 juli 2011 00:34 schreef SteelDogg het volgende:
De filmer word gewoon beschoten

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Wel heel erg goed dat dit allemaal aan de rest van de wereld word getoond!!!!! Dit is Assad's grootste nachtmerrie geweest die nu aan het uitkomen is: Opstanden door heel Syri� heen die zo groot zijn dat ze amper neergeslagen kunnen worden!!

Zo moeten ze blijven volhouden want dit regime houdt niet lang stand meer!

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Op zondag 3 juli 2011 00:54 schreef SteelDogg het volgende:
Idd maar hoe langer het duurt, des te groter en sterker de opstanden worden, en de internationale gemeenschap meer doet... In het begin ging alle aandacht naar Tunesi�, toen over op Egypte, daarna kwam Libi� (wat nog steeds bezig is maar eveneens niet lang zal gaan duren) en nu is Syri� aan de beurt......

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Tanks rond Syrische stad Hama

Het Syrische leger heeft met tanks de stad Hama afgesloten, zeggen bewoners en activisten in de stad. Twee dagen eerder protesteerden tienduizenden in de stad tegen president Bashar al-Assad.

Tanks sluiten alle toegangswegen naar Hama af. Er zouden tientallen mensen in buitenwijken van de stad zijn gearresteerd en volgens mensenrechtenorganisatie Syrian Observatory for Human Rights kiest de regering nu blijkbaar voor een militaire optie in het neerslaan van de protesten.

In Hama waren twee dagen geleden 200.000 mensen op de been om het aftreden van president Bashar al-Assad te eisen. In het hele land protesteerden Syri�rs tegen de regering, zo zouden er in Homs zo’n 400.000 demonstranten de straat op zijn gegaan.

Een dag na de protesten is de gouverneur van de provincie Hama ontslagen. Assad heeft een decreet uitgevaardigd waarin zonder verdere toelichting Ahmad Khaled Abdulaziz uit zijn functie wordt ontheven, zo meldt Reuters.

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Op zondag 3 juli 2011 14:23 schreef fusionfake het volgende:
Wie gelooft er nou serieus dat er hervormingen komen of dat Assad �berhaupt hervormingen wilt, wanneer er op vreedzame demonstranten met scherp wordt geschoten?

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Syrian tanks 'pull back from Hama'

Residents say thousands assemble for a night rally despite electricity cuts designed to hamper protests.

Syrian tanks and armoured vehicles deployed at the entrances to the city of Hama have pulled back, residents said.

They headed north on Sunday after moving close to the city of 650,000 people.

The move comes two days after the city saw the largest protest against President Bashar al-Assad since an uprising began three months ago.

"The regime is using scare tactics, but the people of Hama are not bowing," one of the residents said.

He said tens of thousands of people assembled for a night rally at the main square on Sunday, despite electricity cuts designed to hamper protests.

Tens of people were earlier arrested in neighbourhoods on the edges of Hama and secret police patrols were seen in the city, residents said.

Meanwhile, activists and a resident said Syrian forces shot dead two protesters during a demonstration in a Damascus suburb.

"It was a usual night demonstration when a hail of bullets hit. Many were also injured," the resident, who gave his name as Abu al-Nour, told Reuters news agency by phone from the poor suburb where thousands of refugees from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights live.

Troops advanced late on Saturday on Kfar Rumma village and made arrests in the district of Jabal al-Zawiyah, Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told the AFP news agency.

"Ninety-seven military vehicles, including tanks and personnel carriers, carrying thousands of soldiers moved Saturday night towards Kfar Rumma," he said.

"Hundreds of residents emerged from their homes to confront them and prevent them from advancing, but the troops pursued their deployment to carry out their military operations."

Al Jazeera cannot verify reports from Syria because of restrictions on reporting in the country.

A resident of Hama said communication networks had been cut off in the city, a tactic that has been used by the military ahead of assaults on cities and towns elsewhere.

Security forces and gunmen loyal to Assad were seen in several neighbourhoods, he said.

The security presence had lessened in Hama since forces killed at least 60 protesters in the city a month ago, in one of the bloodiest days of the uprising against Assad. Residents said security forces and snipers had fired on crowds of demonstrators.

The move to deploy more force comes a day after Assad removed the governor of Hama, Ahmad Khaled Abdulaziz.

The opposition has deep roots in Hama. In 1982, under the rule of Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father, the army stormed the city to crush a revolt by the Muslim Brotherhood, leaving about 20,000 people dead.

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Syrische troepen vallen Hama binnen

Syrische troepen zijn de stad Hama binnengevallen, nadat duizenden anti-regeringsdemonstranten de straten waren opgegaan onder het uitroepen van de tekst: ‘Allah is groot’.

“Ten minste dertig bussen met militairen en veiligheidspolitie arriveerden vanmorgen in de stad”, aldus een inwoner van de stad tegen AP. Syrische troepen hadden de Hama gisteren al omsingeld. “De militairen schieten in het wilde weg”, aldus de inwoner via een telefoonverbinding.

Tanks in Kfar Roumah

Ondertussen zijn Syrische tanks het stadje Kfar Roumah in het noordwesten van het land binnengereden. Daarbij raakten zeker zes personen gewond. De actie is een van de pogingen van het leger om de opstand te onderdrukken. Het leger en de veiligheidspolitie is al een week zeer actief. In Hajar, een buitenwijk van de Syrische hoofdstad Damascus, schoten veiligheidsagenten gisteravond laat twee opstandelingen dood.

De opstand tegen president Bashar al-Assad houdt opmerkelijk lang aan. Inmiddels wordt er vier maanden gestreden. Het is de grootste opstand tegen het regime van de dynastie van Assad sinds de familie veertig jaar geleden aan de macht kwam. Er vielen volgens opstandelingen inmiddels meer dan 1.400 doden aan de zijde van de opstandelingen sinds maart. Het controleren van dergelijke uitspraken is moeilijk, omdat media massaal geweerd worden.

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Doden bij anti-regeringdemonstraties in Syri�

In de Syrische stad Hama zijn vandaag zeker drie demonstranten door het leger doodgeschoten toen zij barricades opwierpen voor oprukkende tanks. Dat laat het Syrische Observatorium voor de Mensenrechten weten. “Er heerst een soort vastberadenheid om niet te wijken voor welke tank dan ook”, meldde directeur Rami Abdul-Raghman.

Inwoners van de stad probeerden met brandende autobanden en zandwallen de doorgang voor tanks van het Syrische leger te versperren, waarna laatstgenoemde het vuur opende. Volgens het Observatorium gedragen de inwoners van Hama zich “openlijk ongehoorzaam” tegenover autoriteiten.

De demonstraties tegen de Syrische president Bashar al-Assad houden inmiddels al vier maanden aan. Volgens opstandelingen zijn sinds maart meer dan 1.400 doden aan de zijde van de opstandelingen gevallen. Concrete gegevens ontbreken, omdat media massaal geweerd worden.

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Op dinsdag 5 juli 2011 18:27 schreef johnnylove het volgende:
Geen idee hoe ik t anders dien te doen, maar dit....

http://www.vkmag.com/vide(...)_eigen_dood_in_homs/

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Video clips highlighted by the leading dissident Ammar Abdulhamid purport to show protesters resisting the army.

One shows stone-throwing protesters in a stand off with soldiers who fire back.

شام - حماة - إطلاق نار مباشر على العزل 5-7 بالكلاشنكوف

Another appears to show protesters forcing a bus load of soldiers to retreat.

5 7 Hama أوغاريت حماة هروب قوات الأمن من شباب حماة الأبطال عند طريق حلب ج2

A third shows a similar scene of resistance.

5 7 Hama أوغاريت حماة هروب قوات الأمن من قبل شباب حماة الأبطال

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‘Syrische troepen moeten demonstranten doden’

Leden van Syrische veiligheidstroepen hebben verklaard dat ze van hun superieuren orders krijgen om demonstranten dood te schieten, volgens Human Right Watch. De instantie maakt dat vandaag openbaar aan de hand van interviews met acht Syrische soldaten en vier leden van nationale veiligheidsdiensten.

De twaalf zouden inmiddels zijn overgelopen naar de oppositie en daarom hun verhaal doen. Onder orders van het regime van Bashar al-Assad sloegen ze demonstraties neer in onder andere Dera’a, Homs, Jisr al-Shoughour en hoofdstad Damascus. Ze participeerden in en waren getuigen bij het neerschieten en verwonden van tientallen demonstranten, volgens eigen verklaring.

Een lid van de veiligheidstroepen in Homs zegt tegenover Human Rights Watch:

“De demonstranten waren op het plein gaan zitten. Wij werden opgedragen ze met geweld te verwijderen. We waren samen met luchtmacht, leger en gewapende mannen die geen onderdeel uitmaakten van de troepen, maar wel het regime steunden. ‘s Middags kregen we het order… op de demonstranten te schieten. Het vuren duurde meer dan een half uur.”

“Er waren tientallen demonstranten gedood en verwond. Een half uur later arriveerden grafgravers en brandweerwagens. Ze haalden de lichamen weg, ik weet niet waarheen. De gewonden werden naar het militaire ziekenhuis van de stad gebracht. Daarna maakten de brandweerwagens het plein schoon.”

Alle ge�nterviewden verklaarden tegen HRW dat hun superieuren ze vertelden dat ze infiltranten en terroristen zouden bevechten. Ze waren verrast toen het ongewapende burgers bleken te zijn. Wie weigerde de orders op te volgen, liep het risico zelf gedood te worden.

De Syrische regering heeft niet gereageerd op de verklaringen.

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12.00pm: Diplomatic relations between France and Syria are tense after a troubled weekend, writes Angelique Chrisafis in Paris.


The French foreign office summoned Syria's ambassador to France on Sunday night to express its outrage over violent protests outside the French embassy in Damascus over the weekend.

Demonstrators at the embassy and the French consulate in Aleppo had burned French flags, lobbed stones into the compound and destroyed cars in what France called "unspeakable acts" while the Syrian authorities stood by.

The violence came after the French ambassador to Damascus, Eric Chevallier, and his US counterpart, Robert Ford, visited the northern city of Hama in a show of solidarity for protesters on Friday. The Syrian government objected to the ambassadors' visits, calling them "blatant" interference in Syrian internal affairs.

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3.05pm: The break-ins at the US and French embassies in the Syrian capital Damascus now appear to be over.

Reuters reports:

Unidentified people tried to break into France's embassy in Syria on Monday but failed, the French Foreign Ministry said.

The incident "is now finished," spokesman Bernard Valero said in response to a query.
He could not immediately give more details.

This photograph of the incident at the US embassy (left) appears on a pro-Assad Facebook group.

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Op maandag 11 juli 2011 16:36 schreef Chooselife het volgende:

pro syrian ,pro bashar, syrian counculate ,newportbeach

Opvallend. Erg opvallend dit.

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Op maandag 11 juli 2011 17:26 schreef Chooselife het volgende:

[..]

Het is in de VS.

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US says Syria's Assad has lost legitimacy

Associated Press= WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that Syrian President Bashar Assad has "lost legitimacy" as a leader interested in reform as the United States formally protested an attack on the U.S. Embassy and the American ambassador's residence in Damascus.

Clinton's comments fell short of demanding that Assad leave power but were some of the strongest public criticism yet by a senior U.S. official and demonstrated Washington's anger not only at the embassy attack but the Assad regime's continuing crackdown on opponents.

"From our perspective, he has lost legitimacy," Clinton told reporters at the State Department in a joint news conference with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. "He has failed to deliver on promises he has made, he has sought and accepted aid from the Iranians as to how to repress his own people."

Clinton said there was a "laundry list of actions" that the Assad regime should be held accountable for. And she condemned the attacks on the U.S. and French embassies while demanding that Syria uphold its international treaty obligations to protect foreign diplomatic missions.

Earlier, the department summoned a senior Syrian diplomat to register the U.S. complaints in person and said it would seek compensation for damage caused when a mob of what it described as about 300 "thugs" breached the wall of the embassy compound before being dispersed by U.S. Marine guards.

Clinton cautioned Assad and his supporters that there was no truth to suggestions by some that the U.S. wanted to see the current regime stay in power for stabilities' sake.

"President Assad is not indispensible and we have absolutely nothing invested in him remaining in power," she said.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said it appeared a government-controlled television statement had instigated the violence, and Clinton warned Assad that he could not distract the international community from its brutal crackdown on protesters demanding reforms.

"By either allowing or inciting this kind of behavior by these mobs against American and French diplomats and their property, they are clearly trying to deflect attention from their crackdown internally and to move the world's view away from what they are doing," Clinton said. "It just doesn't work."

Nuland called the embassy attacks "absolutely outrageous." She said the mob had not breached the chancery building but had gotten onto its roof, spray painted graffiti and broken windows and some security cameras. In addition, she said protesters lobbed fruits and vegetables at the compound.

She said that Syrian security forces who are supposed to guard the mission were slow to respond to the attack. There were no injuries reported to embassy personnel, who are all accounted for, officials said.

After the crowd at the embassy was dispersed, the protesters moved to the residence of U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford and attacked it, causing unspecified damage, Nuland said.

Witnesses said the protesters smashed windows at the embassy and raised a Syrian flag on the compound. They also wrote anti-US graffiti referring to the U.S. ambassador as a "dog," the witnesses said. The protests were over visits by the U.S. and French ambassadors last week to the opposition stronghold of Hama in central Syria.

On Sunday, the State Department complained that pro-government demonstrators threw tomatoes, eggs and rocks at the embassy over the weekend to protest Ford's visit to Hama. There were no reports of injuries, but a senior department official said two embassy employees were pelted with food during the 31-hour demonstration.

Ford on Thursday visited Hama, where he was greeted by friendly crowds who put flowers on his windshield and olive branches on his car, chanting, "Down with the regime!" The State Department said Ford made the trip to express support for the right of Syrian people to demonstrate peacefully.

The Syrian government denounced Ford's visit, saying the unauthorized trip was proof that Washington was inciting violence in the Arab nation. The main headline of state-run daily Al-Thawra read, "Ford in Hama and Syrians are angry."

Last week, the Syria's ambassador to the U.S. was summoned to the State Department to hear concerns about reports of Syrian diplomats conducting video and photographic surveillance of people participating in protests in the United States. Authorities may have retaliated against some demonstrators' relatives in Syria, the department said in a statement on Friday.

The Obama administration has criticized Assad's government for its violent crackdown on peaceful protests against his 11-year rule. Clashes between protesters and Assad's supporters have resulted in the deaths of 1,600, in addition to 350 members of the security forces.

But the White House has so far refrained from calling for an end to the Assad family's four decades of rule, wary of pressing too hard as it tries to wind down wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and faces criticism for being part of the coalition battling Moammar Gadhafi in Libya.

Congressional Republicans have pressed the administration to withdraw Ford from Syria, an ally of Iran that supports the Islamic militant groups Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The U.S. did not send an ambassador to Damascus for five years in protest of Syria's alleged role in the assassination of a political leader in Lebanon.

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Kiss Of ‘Democratic’ Death: Israel’s Plot To Take Down Syria I

This is the first of a 2-part series that exposes the 'Syrian Revolution' as a destabilization operation commanded by the usurping regime of Israel and assisted by its allies in Washington D.C., Paris, London, Riyadh and other faces hiding behind masks of friendship and neutrality. This selection deals with the 40+ years of history that led to the unprecedented events unfolding now and how Tel Aviv and Riyadh have once again joined hands in modern day to eliminate Syrian Resistance once and for all...

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Op dinsdag 12 juli 2011 10:49 schreef RobertoCarlos het volgende:

[..]

Goede bron!!

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Also like the poison dart frogs, the Angel’s Trumpets and the blue-ringed octopuses, the beauty of ‘democracy’ is merely a front for the venom that lies beneath an eye-pleasing exterior. A venom that can kill. A venom that has killed. In the millions. Democracy is the kiss of death, bringing ruin, pillage and desecration while cloaked in the garments of freedom, equality and higher-learning. If democracy was an entity of female origin, it would be the succubus of mythological lore. If it were of male origin, it would be the incubus. And the easterners, Arabs and Africans, can speak for millennia about what this demonic ‘democracy’ actually represents. Syrians beware, ‘democracy’ is targeting you now; heed the lessons of the past, taught in blood by your oppressed brothers and sisters.

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Medewerker NRC door Syri� uitgezet

De Syrische autoriteiten hebben gisteren NRC-medewerker Maarten Zegers tot ongewenst vreemdeling verklaard en op een vliegtuig naar Turkije gezet.

NRC Handelsblad meldt vanmiddag:

Hij werd aangehouden en geboeid toen hij zijn visum wilde verlengen. De autoriteiten wilden geen reden geven voor hun actie, maar spraken onderling over “die journalist”, zei Zeegers vanochtend.

Zeegers studeert islamitisch recht aan de universiteit van Damascus en schrijft een boek over Syri�. Sinds enkele maanden doet hij voor de krant verslag van de onrusten in het land. In de krant verschenen zijn stukken onder de aanhef “Door een medewerker”, doordat de Syrische autoriteiten geen onafhankelijke buitenlandse verslaggeving toestaan.

Volgens de krant werd Zeegers urenlang in een kelder vastgehouden, samen met een Saoedische drugsgebruiker en een Indonesische prostituee, voor hij naar het vliegveld werd gebracht. Hij is naar eigen zeggen niet mishandeld.

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Veiligheidstroepen Syri� vuren opnieuw op demonstranten

Syrische veiligheidstroepen hebben ten minste drie demonstranten gedood in de noordelijke stad Idlib. Ook in hoofdstad Damascus werd geschoten op demonstranten. Honderdduizenden Syri�rs zijn vandaag op de been om het vertrek van president Assad te eisen.

Al Jazeera spreekt van in totaal zeven doden in Idlib, Damascus en Deraa.

Een lid van de Syrische oppositie, Louay Hussain, laat vanuit Damascus aan persbureau Reuters weten dat de autoriteiten volgens hem reageren op de weigering van de oppositie deel te nemen aan gesprekken. Volgens Hussain wil het regime met een dialoog proberen de moorden in de doofpot te stoppen.

In Hama vond het grootste protest plaats. Daar hebben zich volgens bronnen van persbureau AP veel mensen uit nabijgelegen dorpen bij de protesten gevoegd.

Inmiddels zijn in Syri� volgens activisten al zo’n 1600 mensen gedood in een poging van het regime om de demonstraties tegen de regering de kop in te drukken.

Demonstraties in Jordani�

In de Jordaanse hoofdstad Amman zijn demonstranten in gevecht gekomen met de politie. Betogers eisen hervormingen van de regering, maar niet het vertrek van koning Abdullah, die de regering samenstelt.

Bij de gevechten in Amman zouden zeker acht gewonden zijn gevallen.

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Op vrijdag 15 juli 2011 21:56 schreef Chooselife het volgende:
Syri�rs hebben het toch lang niet slecht?