visionary Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/03/20123121267147351.html Foreign journalists safe in Lebanon from HomsWounded French journalist Edith Bouvier and photographer William Daniels have arrived in Lebanon from Syria, according to a Lebanese witness. Bouvier and Daniels' activist-aided escape from Syria was confirmed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday. Bouvier suffered a broken femur in a rocket attack by security forces late last month while covering the uprising in Bab Amr from a makeshift media centre in the heavily bombarded city of Homs. The French president said he had spoken to Bouvier by phone following her evacuation from the opposition stronghold. "I have just spoken with Edith Bouvier, who is naturally exhausted, having suffered hugely but she knows she is free and that she will soon be taken care of," said Sarkozy. Sarkozy, speaking from Brussels, where he is taking part in a European summit told reporters that the pair, on assignment for France's Le Figaro newspaper at the time of the attack, were not currently in the Lebanese capital, but would be flown back to France in a government plane. https://twitter.com/#!/javierespinosa2 my respect for all the citizen journalists of Bab al Amr I never saw "journalists" so brave4:16 PM many people helped to evacuated 2 french journalists but 1 will never claim his key role: Abu Janin, Bab al Amar media officer 4:08 PM https://twitter.com/#!/ArabSpringFF More activists and FSA soldiers died today evacuating journalists out of Syria. RIP.5:49 PM The world ignored Homs, even when journos were trapped there. We had to get them out ourselves at a great cost. Shame on the intl. community 5:51 PM Ppl are saying that Hezb is dancing in the streets over news abt Baba Amr. Soon Nasrallah your head will be under the boot of a free soldier 6:01 PM **** China. **** Russia. **** Iran. **** Hezbollah. We will never forget what you have done. I swear to God we will never forget. 6:04 PM https://twitter.com/#!/ArabSpringFF @javierespinosa2 I'm sorry to hear about your "death". The regime says they are sending your body back to Spain. 4:50 PM The regime claims that they have the bodies of Colvin, Ochlik and Espinosa. http://www.sana.sy/eng/21/2012/03/01/403709.htm 6:11 PM BTW, the FSA still controls a lot of areas in Homs. Khaldiya, Bayada,Hamidiya etc. The seige still continues in other parts. 6:07 PM He also has pictures on his page of a regime sniper aiming from a rooftop that were obtained after the man was captured. https://twitter.com/#!/weddady I'm afraid that the international community still won't run out of excuses to let a genocidal maniac get away with murder5:54 PM https://twitter.com/#!/tweets4peace From Baba Amr: The Assad army is still shelling Baba Amr using missiles and tank shells.6:47 PM https://twitter.com/#!/MaryamSaleh_ @MulhamJundi: 2 loud explosions just now in Homs.7:03 PM Anderson Cooper interviewed journalist Javier Espinosa and Danny from Bab Amr tonight on CNN. Showing right now and again at 10 pm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/01/u-s-sees-no-fracturing-of-assad-regime/ U.S. sees "no fracturing" of Assad regimeAfter weeks of collecting intelligence on Syria and watching the attacks by the forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad, the U.S. sees "no fracturing" of the Syrian regime and assesses al-Assad could remain in power for some time to come if the situation does not change, according to a senior U.S. official. This the basic conclusion of top officials closely watching Syria, the official said. Unless something changes in the next several days, this will also be the message delivered to the Senate Armed Services Committee next week by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The hearing, called for Wednesday, is the first public hearing in which both men will be publicly questioned by Congress on the Syrian crisis. "The assumption is Assad will continue to persevere until he and other regime leaders are sufficiently suppressed," the official said. While there have been a number of defections, it's not yet at the point of tipping al-Assad's grip on power.As for al-Assad, "He's enjoying tactical survival. He can wait it out. He looks to be dug in" the official said. So far, al-Assad is believed to enjoy unhindered movements and communications. But the hope, he said, is that al-Assad is feeling the "strategic weight and pressure of outside critics." The longer the conflict in Syria goes on and the regime holds out, the greater the chance for the country to descend into full-scale civil war, two senior State Department officials said Thursday.Jeffrey Feltman, assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs, said the United States is working with its allies to reach a "tipping point" whereby the regime falls, and a new government representative of all Syrian society takes over. Time is of the essence, he said. "The demise of the Assad regime is inevitable," Feltman told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "It's important that the tipping point for the regime be reached quickly because the longer the regime assaults the Syrian people, the greater the chances of all-out war and a failed state." But the opposition is not as organized as it was in Libya and is "divided" and "fractious" the officials said. "The opposition leadership recognizes those dangers," Feltman said, noting the importance of beginning a transition in Syria soon. "The longer this goes on, the deeper the sectarian divisions, the higher the risks of long-term sectarian conflict, the higher the risk of extremism." https://twitter.com/#!/tweets4peace Before I sleep an update on Helfaya Hama, spoke to a contact in Hama and he said the following - Helfaya remains under siege8:13 PM Nothing is going in or out, the area is being shelled very heavily for many days with injuries trapped inside. 8:15 PM some families were smuggled out, they are trying to find a place to stay. He said he's not there and can't go 8:15 PM he said he is just helping those escaping, the smoke is seen rising from there daily, no activists inside with cams 8:16 PM he said it is a humanitarian crisis and is like Baba Amr but with no media centre to get news out. 8:17 PM This sort of thing or similar situations are happening all over Syria. Zabadani, Daraa, Aleppo's outskirts, Damascus' suburbs, Hama, Homs and all around it, Deir Ezzour, Idlib. Shelling buildings and large gatherings of people, security raids, executions, helicopter attacks, etc. In a lot of these places there is little food, water, or electricity, in some of them people are freezing or starving to death. And when Assad's forces are done cleaning Bab Amr, what happened in there will be repeated in other districts of Homs. Homs was a city of around a million or more people. By the time this is over, it will be a city of the dead. An update from CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/01/world/meast/syria-unrest/index.html?hpt=hp_t2 The group said that, during the past week, it had evacuated the four wounded journalists and 47 civilians from Homs even as it was also smuggling medicines, food and other international journalists into Baba Amr.Conroy and Espinosa also made it to safety. Apparently, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency did not get that message. Citing a source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, it reported Thursday that authorities had discovered the body of Espinosa along with those of Colvin and Ochlik after the Syrian Army "cleansed Baba Amr from the foreign-backed armed groups of terrorists." After DNA analysis confirms the identities, they will be handed over to the embassies of Poland, on behalf of the U.S. Embassy, France and Spain, it said. In an interview from Beirut, Espinosa said that the report of his death "would be a nice joke" if not for the suffering of the people of Baba Amr. He described a typical day in the neighborhood as one that routinized horror: Shelling began at 6 a.m. and continued until 1 p.m., when the army stopped for precisely one hour. "They just stop for lunch," he told CNN. At 2 p.m., the shelling resumed until 6 p.m., when it ended until picking up again the following morning, he said. "It's very systematic." The Local Coordination Committees of Syria, an opposition activist group, said at least 45 people had died in Syria on Thursday -- 24 in Homs, seven in the Quneitra province town of Jabata, and others in the Damascus suburbs, the Hama suburbs, Daraa and Idlib. It's still unknown just how many people died in Bab Amr the past two days. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/saudi-qatari-plans-to-arm-syrian-rebels-risk-overtaking-cautious-approach-favored-by-us/2012/03/01/gIQArWQflR_story.html Arab plans to arm Syria’s opposition fighters are threatening to overtake the cautious approach advocated by the United States and other countries, which fear that sending weapons to the region could fuel a civil war and lead to a regional conflagration.Saudi Arabia and Qatar indicated this week that they are prepared to help Syrian opposition military forces. Kuwait’s parliament passed a nonbinding resolution Thursday calling for the government to provide weapons to the rebels and break ties with Damascus. Also Libya has promised 100 million dollars of aid and Libyans themselves have been sending weapons. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/02/us-syria-idUSL5E8DB0BH20120302 But Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin appeared to distance himself from Assad in an interview with the London Times newspaper published on Friday, saying he had no special relationship with the president."It is up to the Syrians to decide who should run their country ... We need to make sure they stop killing each other," Putin said. Turkish President Abdullah Gul told Reuters on Thursday that Russia and Iran would soon realize they had little choice but to join international diplomatic efforts for Assad's removal. "I think in time Russia will see its support has been abused by the Syrian regime. They will recognize this fact when they see the heavy weapons being used against the people in Syria. That is not very tolerable, not even for Russia," he said. Sure.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_t1#/video/world/2012/03/02/ac-danny-syria-unrest.cnn Activist: Assad will have to kill us allAnderson Cooper 360 Added on March 1, 2012 A Syrian activist says the fighting will not stop until either Assad is gone or the activists are all dead. http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_t1#/video/bestoftv/2012/03/02/ac-syria-espinosa-scaped-journalist.cnn Journalist escapes from SyriaAnderson Cooper 360 Added on March 1, 2012 Javier Espinosa survived the shelling that killed Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik. He describes the attacks he survived. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/02/syria-deadly-neighbourhood-attempts-escape?CMP=twt_gu Syria's deadly neighbourhood and the desperate attempts to escape Bouvier's wounds were by far the most serious. Her femur was shattered and the basic medical care available to her in Baba Amr could not ward off the main risk she faced in being moved – a blood clot. If that happened on the journey, it would probably be fatal.However, by then it had become clear that staying behind meant certain death. For four days and nights, the group had been huddled in the hallway as Syrian rockets thundered down on buildings around them. They had no food and next to no water. One of the group had taken to eating tobacco leaves. "The Syrians were firing at them from four different directions," said one observer familiar with the evacuation. "They were trying to kill them." Somehow the regime's gunners had zeroed in on the group's location. However, not one rocket tube or tank turret had a direct angle of fire. To achieve that, the regime would have to whittle away the building in front of the refuge – a task it was attempting with vigour. "The building was crumbling by the hour," the observer said. "They didn't have a choice but to leave." https://twitter.com/#!/NMSyria Right is right, even if everyone is against it; and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it.12:16 AM BreakingNews: UNCONFIRMED Reports that Maher Al-Assad, brother of President, and leader of 4th battalion in Syria killed/injured severely 12:59 AM One can only hope.... Really interesting article, kind of long though. I've only had time to read parts of it so far. http://www.lrb.co.uk/2012/03/01/jonathan-littell/syrian-notebooks Syrian Notebooks https://twitter.com/#!/NMSyria LCC: Red Crescent team has been assaulted in Homs and humanitarian aid has been confiscated. Baba Amr3:04 AM Reports that all males above 14 in BabaAmr Homs being led out of homes to a gathering point by security forces and the army. 3:14 AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 https://twitter.com/#!/DamascusSYR Homs in snow, 41 pictures by @MulhamJundi http://on.fb.me/x3S3QC4:20 AM https://twitter.com/#!/ArabSpringFF New FSA battalion formed inside Aleppo city. Hopefully now security forces will not shoot as much on protesters. 3:34 AM The journalists that escaped Syria know so much and will have amazing stories to tell. The regime desperately tried to kill them. 4:23 AM A destroyed T62 tank in Baba Amr and dead regime soldiers in the streets 4:25 AM https://twitter.com/#!/NMSyria BreakingNews: Red Crescent is preparing to enter BabaAmr, Homs once more today. Live updates here!3:51 AM British PM: Cameron: The Syrian government will face a day of reckoning for the atrocities it is committing against its people. 4:09 AM BreakingNews: Clashes between Syrian army and defectors near the occupied Golan in Quneitra -- Damascus. 7 defectors & 8 Army killed 4:16 AM Red Crescent: 7 trucks full of humanitarian aid arrive in Homs in around one hour. 4:34 AM https://twitter.com/#!/javierespinosa2 this is not the first time FSA retreated from Bab al Amar they did it last year and then came back and reclaimed control of it4:27 AM Sana mistake about my death can be based in my computer I left everything on the spot when I had to run for my life 4:48 AM So if they give back my body i hope to recover my computer as well please and some thousands dollars I had in my bag 4:52 AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/02/world/meast/syria-unrest/index.html?hpt=wo_c1 Britain warns of 'a day of reckoning' for Syrian regime amid reports of executionsA day after overrunning the rebel stronghold of Baba Amr, Syrian forces executed 14 civilians there Friday, opposition groups said, even as an international aid convoy said it was waiting to get into the city. At least 30 people died elsewhere in Syria on Friday, opposition groups claimed, and the unrelenting violence prompted Britain's leader to warn that President Bashar al-Assad's regime will face a "day of reckoning." "Above all," said British Prime Minister David Cameron, "what I think matters is building the evidence and the picture so we hold this criminal regime to account, and to make sure it is held to account for crimes that it is committing against its people." He spoke to reporters outside a meeting of leaders of the European Union in Brussels, Belgium. In addition to the 14 civilians opposition groups said were executed, 16 people died when a shell struck a crowd of demonstrators in Rastan, in the province of Homs, according to Abo Emad, a Syrian activist.Ten others died in Idlib and four in Aleppo, the LCC said. Security forces also raided neighborhoods in Banias and took people into custody in response to efforts to organize protests there following Friday prayers, according to the LCC. And in Damascus, gunfire wounded five demonstrators in a crowd of protesters emerging from a mosque in the Barzeh neighborhood, the group said. Elsewhere, Syrian troops reportedly stormed a village near the Turkish border on Friday, wounding two people and forcing opposition members to flee, according to the Syrian Observatory. Amid the continuing violence, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced Friday that France would close its embassy in Damascus and the European Union formally recognized the opposition Syrian National Council as the legitimate representative of Syrian people. https://twitter.com/#!/ArabSpringFF Off for protests. I have a bad feeling about security forces today.5:19 AM **** 5:48 AM Damscus Midan the thugs broke up the protest tear gas live fire. ppl arrested and beaten 6:22 AM assads dogs are everywhere they arrest everyone that runs from live gun fire midan damascus 6:39 AM The situation has calmed down now. Assad's ****s were chasing people to hit them and arrest them. Mosques in Midan still being surrounded 6:56 AM https://twitter.com/#!/ArabSpringFF A massacre has happened in Rastan after regime forces shelled a protest with mortars.6:58 AM Regime forces shelling a protest in Rastan with heavy weapons: 7:33 AM Azaz, Aleppo has been liberated by the FSA. Raising the freedom flag on the Baath HQ: Town hall: 9:42 AM Kafranbel: Heavy clashes are taking place between the "Knights of Truth" battalion of the FSA and regime forces who are shelling the city. 11:05 AM 51 dead in Syria today. 30 in Homs (14 were executed in Baba Amr, 16 massacred in Rastan) 4 each in Aleppo and Deir Ezzor. 9:39 AM Rastan Protest Shelled SMfXFu5ZbqM Keep in mind that Rastan itself has been shelled badly at times as well. Azaz Aleppo liberation 1J-fochUu3E E_3Q39mmFxY Protest in Khaldiya Homs (they may be next on the regime's list after Bab Amr is "cleaned" up) kWrdO5MRojs http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/03/20123215518519445.html Red Crescent blocked from Homs districtThe International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said that it was unable to enter the Homs district of Bab Amro on Friday, where it had hoped to bring in aid and evacuate the sick and wounded. "The ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent Society [sARC] were not allowed to enter the Bab Amr district of Homs today," Jakob Kellenberger, ICRC president, said in a statement issued in Geneva on Friday. "It is unacceptable that people who have been in need of emergency assistance for weeks have still not received any help. We are staying in Homs tonight in the hope of entering Bab Amr in the very near future. In addition, many families have fled Bab Amr, and we will help them as soon as we possibly can." http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/Syria 3 hours 24 min agoSyria has received the latest in a series of Russian gasoil shipments, arriving just days after Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned Western and Arab nations against military intervention in Syria. At least four tankers are making regular voyages to Syria from the Black Sea, traders and shipping sources said. Although Turkey has been a vociferous supporter of the Syrian opposition, all vessels pass through the Turkish-controlled Bosphorus Strait, the gateway to the Mediterranean. Two of the tankers are Italian-flagged, including the Ray G that was due in the Syrian port of Banias on Thursday, shippingsources said. The other two vessels are Maltese-flagged. Earlier this week, Venezuela promised to supply President Bashar al-Assad's government "whenever required" after emerging as a rare supplier of diesel to Syria. One source said at least two of the tankers carrying gasoil were chartered by a Swiss-based oil trader AOT Trading AG. The firm declined to comment. Good thing we're keeping them isolated.... https://twitter.com/#!/abuhatem Homs, al-Waer protesting in solidarity with Baba Amro today 3/2/2012 12:03 PM https://twitter.com/#!/FirasMaksad Protest at St. Georgios Church in Damascus Syria, chants "Muslims & Christians want freedom" Good start. More needed http://goo.gl/QYRWk at the Red Cross guy on CNN trying to talk about what's going on in Homs without blaming the authorities for keeping them out of Bab Amr. https://twitter.com/#!/HodaAH Edith Bouvier just landed in France. Live now on AJE..12:21 PM http://www.aljazeera.com/watch_now/ I wish international leaders would pay more attention to what reporters who have actually been in Syria have been saying. Especially those who were in Homs. ---------- Post added March-2nd-2012 at 12:29 PM ---------- https://twitter.com/#!/vivwalt sarkozy says homs 'likely to be erased from the map' talking while waiting for journalists plane to land12:24 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1583949&l=00d57893a0&id=217848338242310 Local Coordination Committees in Syria The number of Syrian martyrs has reached 65 including children and 2 women woman, 14 martyrs were executed in the field in Baba Amr, 16 martyrs from Rastan, 33 martyrs in Homs, 11 martyrs from Idlib including two martyrs in Saraqeb, 8 martyrs from Aleppo,9 martyrs in Deir Ezzor, 2 martyrs in Douma and a martyr each in, Hama and Lattakia https://twitter.com/#!/BarinM UN SG Ban Ki moon says Kofi Annan is heading to Cairo on 7 March to meet with the League of Arab States then Damascus "as soon as possible"12:40 PM https://twitter.com/#!/pdanahar Homs resident says Assad regime is busing supporters into Baba Amr for State TV to show happy people, liberated from FSA12:45 PM I witnessed the Gaddafi regime do exactly the same thing in Zawiya Libya when they bombed that into submission 12:48 PM https://twitter.com/#!/fieldproducer First TV interview with journalist Paul Conroy, who was injured in the same attack that killed Marie Colvin in Homs, on Sky News now12:45 PM Paul Conroy says the shelling in Homs was 'systematically moving through neighbourhoods' Syria 12:47 PM Paul Conroy 'now the massacre and the killing is at full tilt' in Homs 12:47 PM https://twitter.com/#!/RaynerSkyNews Paul Conroy: "now the cameras have gone, god knows what's happening...the massacre begins...I don't know how we can stand by and watch this"12:47 PM Paul Conroy: "this is not a war, it's a massacre...in years to come we're going to ask how did we let this happen under our nose?" 12:48 PM https://twitter.com/#!/RaynerSkyNews Paul Conroy: "as I'm talking to you now, they are dying...they are living in bombed out wrecks waiting to die" Homs12:49 PM Paul Conroy in Sky News interview: "forget the geo-politics, forget the meetings...do something...they need help" 1:04 PM Paul Conroy: "We're going to have the shame of sitting back and watching once again, as we did in Srebrenica...a massacre beyond measure" 1:07 PM Apparently some of the families from Bab Amr have taken shelter in mosques in other parts of Homs. According to Mulham Jundi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/03/02/syria-new-satellite-images-show-homs-shelling Syria: New Satellite Images Show Homs Shelling At least 950 craters are visible on open lands, such as roads and farmland, from the impact of indirect fire weapons. The number of craters indicates the frequency of the attacks and how many artillery and mortar shells have fallen. There are 640 buildings in the neighborhood with visible damage. However, the damage to buildings is likely to be significantly underestimated from viewing the satellite image because views from satellite images do not show hits to the sides of buildings made by explosive weapons. Since this satellite image was taken on February 25, the Syrian army has intensified its assault on Baba Amr. Media outlets reported that the Syrian army began a ground assault on the neighborhood on February 29 and regained control of the neighborhood by March 1. https://twitter.com/#!/ArabSpringFF 75 dead in Syria including multiple children and 2 women. 34 in Homs, 11 in Idlib, 9 in Hama, 8 in Aleppo. (via LCC)1:48 PM Aleppo: Big numbers of security forces entered Al Fardos neighborhood, fears of raiding and arrest campaigns 1:54 PM Huge defection in Bayada, Homs 2:05 PM m0jA5QWZwHs https://twitter.com/#!/tweets4peace What hurts? I was in Homs during the Israeli war on Lebanon/Hezbollah, we took their families in, my uncles slept on the floor 1:36 PM To give their beds to women, children and men who had fled from Lebanon, Hezbollah families, we helped them and fed them 1:37 PM Only now to be met with Hezbollah support of Assad slaughtering Homs, families & politicians alike. What a shame. Disgusting. 1:37 PM https://twitter.com/#!/tweets4peace New msg from Baba Amr via sat phone: arrests target all between ages 11-50. All being packed in the consumer corporation building. homes are being robbed then set on fire, cars are being set on fire. This is urgent call to save the 1000's left in next door Jobar who include refugees from here and the families there, as the regime troops are entering. The massacres will be huge.We know where the Assad army is sleeping tonight, they are between Jobar and Baba Amr, between the 2 bridges. Hope they die. He said regime arrested men in this part where they'll sleep, and left the women, homes with 1 women only have been marked. 2:19 PM https://twitter.com/#!/ahmed Protesters chant: "We want your head, Bashar!", reportedly during a demonstration in Qara 1:30 PM heeFh8XX5_A https://twitter.com/#!/NMSyria I want everyone to try and imagine 10,000 people. Just imagine. Now imagine them all dead. Welcome to Syrians' reality.1:48 PM https://twitter.com/#!/lindseyhilsum A Libyan friend says he watched paulconroy syria interview with a room of drs and surgeons. All silent. Heart breaking story. What to do?2:17 PM https://twitter.com/#!/YallaIr7al Anyone OUTSIDE that's AGAINST additional arming of the FSA should hop on a plane to Syria -flights are still open. Go show ur nonviolence2:34 PM https://twitter.com/#!/shadihamid I can't even count how many times the Syrian opposition has called on the int'l community to intervene in Syria.2:27 PM If anyone thinks Assad will negotiate in good faith after capturing Homs, they're kidding themselves. Regime believes it still can win. 2:33 PM Assad knows he has a window of several weeks/months to crush the opposition before any chance of int'l intervention. 2:35 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/Syria 3 hours 45 min ago Reuters journalists came under fire on Thursday in the town of Atarib, near Aleppo, where Syrian snipers were mounted on rooftops. The journalists were shot at as they were leaving the town by car. They found shelter in an olive garden and waited until nightfall before leaving the town. Atarib is located close to the city of Aleppo, Syria's main commercial and industrial hub. Activist groups have reported dozens of deaths in the area in recent months, including five deaths last week. Assad's boys must really have it in for international journalists. 3 hours 36 min agoUN leader Ban Ki-moon on Friday demanded that Syria unconditionally let in humanitarian aid and said the government was "afraid" to let in the UN emergency aid chief Valerie Amos into the country. "The Syrian authorities must open without any preconditions to humanitarian communities," Ban said. Speaking as reports emerged of Red Cross convoys being kept out of the protest city of Homs, Ban said the images coming out of Syria were "atrocious." "It is totally unacceptable, intolerable. How as a human being can you bear with this situation," Ban told a press briefing at the UN headquarters. 2 hours 11 min agoTwo wounded French journalists, who were evacuated from the government besieged Homs district of Bab Amr, have arrived at a military airport near Paris after escaping the protest hub where two fellow Western journalists were killed. A plane transporting reporter Edith Bouvier, 31, and photographer William Daniels, 34, flew in from Beirut, arriving at Villacoublay airport where they were met by relatives and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Daniels praised the people of Homs, saying: "All of Baba Amr supported us. They treated us like kings. We were in one of the most protected houses. These people are heroes who are being massacred."As his eyes teared up, Daniels added: "Those who saved our lives are surely dead, although I don't know. ... It was nine days of non-stop nightmare with our hopes crashing over a silly detail just about every day." 2 hours 1 min agoJames Stavridis, the top US military official in Europe, said on Thursday that if the international community gave the Syrian opposition fighters arms, communications equipment, and intelligence, that would help speed President Bashar al-Assad's removal from power, the Foreign Policy magazine reported. "The commander of US-European Command told the Senate Armed Services that NATO is not doing any "detailed planning" for ways to aid the Syrian opposition or protect Syrian civilians," it said. "But under intense questioning from the committee's ranking Republican, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Stavridis admitted he believed that giving material aid to the rebels would help them get better organized and push forward the process of getting the Assad to step down. https://twitter.com/#!/ArabSpringFF Khaled Abo Saleh live on AJA! http://www.elahmad.com/tv/aljazeera.htm4:26 PM I am so happy to see that Khaled Abo Saleh is safe. The hero of Homs lives on http://twitter.com/ArabSpringFF/status/175694333238972416/photo/1 4:29 PM Dr Mohammed, Khaled Abo Saleh, Omar Shakir and the rest of the media and medical teams are safe and out of Baba Amr. 4:34 PM Today on "Arm the FSA Friday" there were 157 protest points around Idlib districts. 4:52 PM Reports that most of those arrested in Baba Amr have been moved to the stadium, where a massacre is expected to happen. 4:36 PM https://twitter.com/#!/abuhatem Protest in Zabadani today: "Oh Homs we are with you until death Oh Bashar we do not fear death." 5xB0xjltLt0 bygwCmuIckc Wow. Even after all the destruction from days of shelling and the siege and the fact that the regime is in control of the town now they still come out through the snow to protest. https://twitter.com/#!/ArabSpringFF The LCC recorded 619 protest points today. A few months ago there were only around 200 on Fridays. Every single governate protested.5:31 PM https://twitter.com/#!/DSyrer FSA announces the creation of a local military council in Hooleh (Homs province) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7AUW3m1-Ng&feature=plcp&context=C3e42a14UDOEgsToPDskL9kIumvr4ZLqGM8in2jYvZ (Note the large crowd) o7AUW3m1-Ng Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/02/where-the-syrian-conflict-stands-now/?hpt=hp_t2 Where the Syrian conflict stands now http://mar15.info/2012/03/images-map-of-violence-in-syria/ Images: Map of Violence in Syria http://mar15.info/2012/03/avaaz-faces-questions-over-role-at-centre-of-syrian-protest-movement/ Amid the mass of reporting and commentary around the bloody events in Syria this week, one aspect has largely gone unnoticed: the extraordinary role played by an online campaigning group that despite its infancy has managed to place itself at the centre of the unfolding crisis.Avaaz is only five years old, but has exploded to become the globe’s largest and most powerful online activist network. In Syria, it has become an important player in the crisis, acting as a co-ordinating hub and logistical supply route for the protest movement. https://twitter.com/#!/edwardedark situation very bad in Aleppo today. no electricity in most areas. communications cut off in some parts, people are scared9:01 PM business men in Aleppo seem to have gone into melt down panic mode, many have already left, or are planning to shut down and leave very soon 9:20 PM Aleppo is the heart of Syria's economy, and it's now going into cardiac arrest 9:57 PM I can clearly tell you know with all certainty, that many of the undecided in Aleppo's poorer areas, have joined the anti-regime side 12:20 AM Protest in Sakhur, Aleppo city 5L6TXNQCJ9g https://twitter.com/#!/DerekHenryFlood Western politcos keep moving the goal posts on FSA & Syria. UK MP says FSA lacks ability to overthrow regime unlike Libya NTC rebels.10:04 PMNTC rebels could not have overthrown Gaddafi on their own (well not in 6 months anyway). If FSA got serious outside support, game change?[/ SIZE] 10:07 PM https://twitter.com/#!/abuhatem Israeli FM: Israel is prepared to offer aid to victims of the violence in Syria as soon as it is asked. http://www.stljewishlight.com/news/world/article_17dbc67f-36ca-5581-b12e-38fa50afb643.html11:02 PM Assad has murdered 9,571, Children: 676+, Injured: 35K, Detained: 212K MIA: 65K... and counting. LCC Media Team via @Luv2Live2 11:09 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 https://twitter.com/#!/LccSy Homs: Powerful explosions shook al-Khaledieh neighborhood. http://fb.me/1zgR3owM02:15 AM Aleppo: Atareb: Regime forces are shelling the city intenesly. http://fb.me/1PgAyDfOM 2:17 AM Hama: Tarsimieh: The regime's forces are shelling the town... http://fb.me/1GjsoekSG 3:03 AM https://twitter.com/#!/tweets4peace Sounds of explosions can be heard from Baba Amr, reported by those in neighboring areas. Heavy gunfire in Alqsoor now.3:18 AM Qudseya this morning till now, many random arrests being made. God protect all. Photo: LCC. http://yfrog.com/ob4njxmj 3:16 AM Altaremse - Hama - The forgotten. It is being shelled from all 4 sides now, homes on fire, many demolished with families inside. V similar tactics to Baba Amr, Assad troops now took all surrounding areas, theft and pushing families out, so the troops can get as close as they can to their aim (while shelling). http://www.demotix.com/news/1086747/syrians-rally-support-baba-amro-homs Despite the severe blockade by Assad supporters on Homs, people take to the streets of al-Qusour district to show support to Baba Amro and demand support for civil rights in Syria and the Free Syrian Army https://twitter.com/#!/javierespinosa2 From almost 100 fighters i met in this tryp only 2 were jihadist in the sense that they were fighting in iraq2:27 AM https://twitter.com/#!/iyad_elbaghdadi A lesson from BabaAmr is that even in the 21st century, tyrants can still massacre civilians with absolute impunity.2:02 AM The other lesson from BabaAmr, of course, is that in the 21st century, massacres can no longer be hidden from the world. 2:04 AM Assad thinks he's beaten Syria into submission through BabaAmr. But what he's done is give the FSA thousands of potential recruits. 2:13 AM Those decrying the militarization of Syria's revolution should either STFU or be at the front line of a peaceful march in Homs. 2:21 AM The path to Damascus now is through the barrel of a gun. We didn't choose this path, but we must take it if we are to be free. 2:22 AM https://twitter.com/#!/oh_bergine France, UK, Spain were trying to negociate with the criminal Assad regimeto get them out. Journos knew for a fact this road wld kill them3:39 AM Until when will the world treat Assad like someone you can negociate with? There's nothing to negociate with a criminal ArmFSA 3:40 AM https://twitter.com/#!/SkyNewsBreak AP: Activists say troops are shelling several districts in Syrian city of Homs3:21 AM AFP: ICRC official says Red Cross enters Baba Amr district of Homs but Syrian authorities keep aid out 3:10 AM ICRC: Syrian authorities refuse to allow Red Cross access to Baba Amr district of Homs saying area is too dangerous 3:39 AM :mad: https://twitter.com/#!/NMSyria Urgent: Reports that 43 soldiers have been executed in Idleb after trying to defect from army.3:42 AM https://twitter.com/#!/DamascusSYR Another massacre today! 44 brave soldiers were tricked by their commander who made them think he's going to defect w/ them. RIP!3:52 AM Damn it! :mad::mad::mad: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/03/world/meast/syria-unrest/index.html?hpt=hp_t2 More than 40 soldiers trying to defect from an army unit in Idlib province were executed by government troops, according to activists from the town of Binnish, the opposition Syrian Network for Human Rights, and the Local Coordination Committees of Syria.The incident occurred at the Abu Athuhoor Military Airport when 50 soldiers attempted to defect, the network said. A captain loyal to the regime sensed the plan and worked to thwart it, the network said. He told soldiers he would join them, but then he informed a brigadier general about the attempt. He ordered their instant executions. Apart from the defector deaths, the LCC said at least 20 people had been killed across Syria on Saturday.In Daraa, the southern city where the anti-government uprising began last year, at least three civilians were killed and 20 civilians and security personnel were wounded, SANA said. SANA said a "terrorist suicide bomber" blew up a car he was driving at al-Masri roundabout in Daraa's al-Balad area. The opposition Free Syrian Army said state security forces staged the bombing themselves. Car and suicide bombings, common militant tactics in Iraq and Afghanistan, have been rare in the Syrian uprising. There have been a handful of suicide bombings in Damascus and Aleppo, the country's two largest cities. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, another opposition group, said at least six Syrian soldiers were killed in clashes with defectors after forces loyal to President al-Assad stormed the city of Hirak northeast of Daraa. https://twitter.com/#!/olireports Syrian TV doing live interviews in Baba Amro while govt says the ICRC can't go in for security reasons. Would be funny if it wasn't tragic.10:48 AM https://twitter.com/#!/oh_bergine Dear Syrians:sorry we're not available right now, we're in the middle of electoral campaigns.Pls come back next year.Sincerely,world leaders.12:54 PM https://twitter.com/#!/DavidKenner Hurriyet: Turkish FM Davutoglu said that arming Syria's opposition is "possible." http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/arming-opposition-possible-in-wake-of-syrias-crimes-against-humanity-davutoglu.aspx?pageID=238&nid=1517412:56 PM https://twitter.com/#!/abuhatem Yesterday, Kurd protest in 'Ayn al-'Arab (Korbani) "The people want the regime to fall." Singing Yalla Irhal ya Bashar. 1:08 PM Ras al-'Ayn yesterday, big Kurdish protest, "We sacrifice our blood and souls for Baba Amro" Friday of arming FSA.1:09 PM https://twitter.com/#!/ArabSpringFF The FSA say they have seized a multiple arms depots in the Damascus suburbs, gaining a large amount of weapons and ammo.1:56 PM https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1586449&l=f92d097424&id=217848338242310 The Local Coordination Committees in SyriaThe number of martyrs in Syria has reached 77 thus far: 55 in Idlib, among them 47 soldiers where were executed in the Abou Zahour military airport, 8 in the Damascus Suburbs (Deir Al-Asafir, Qudsaya,Daraya); 5 martyrs in Homs; 4 martyrs in Hama; 4 martyrs in Daraa; and 1 martyr in Deir Ezzor https://twitter.com/#!/LccSy The Local Coordination Committees in Syria The number of martyrs in Syria has reached 80 thus far: 56 in Idlib,... http://fb.me/RleL7WWo2:38 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=273049 Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu met representatives from Syrian National Council in İstanbul on Friday. Davutoğlu discussed with the representatives of the Syrian National Council (SNC), an umbrella group of Syrian opposition forces, the decisions taken at Friends of Syria meeting in Tunis on Feb.4. Also on Friday, the Syrian army staged an operation on the Ain al-Beida village near the Turkish border. Witnesses said that 2,000 soldiers and 15 tanks belonging to the Syrian army laid siege to the village in the early morning hours of Friday, taking control of the village.Witnesses also claimed the army set the village -- of over 1,000 residents -- on fire. Syrian citizens who were injured during the clashes between the Syrian army and the opposition crossed the border and were taken to hospitals in Turkey. Amazing photos from Tyler Hicks and Anthony Shadid's journey through Idlib Syria http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2012/03/03/world/middleeast/20120304-IDLIB.html?src=tp#1 Glimpses of the Armed Opposition in Syria http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/world/middleeast/bearing-witness-in-syria-a-war-reporters-last-days.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all Bearing Witness in Syria: A War Reporter’s Last Days It was damp and cold as Anthony Shadid and I crossed in darkness over the barbed-wire fence that separated Turkey from Syria last month. We were also crossing from peace into war, into the bloodiest conflict of the Arab Spring, exploding just up the rocky and sparsely wooded mountain we had to climb once inside. He had a terrible allergic attack that first night after we crossed over the barbed wire. He had another attack a week later, as horses led us out of Syria, just 45 minutes from safety. He died during that attack, at only 43, his wife and nearly 2-year-old son waiting for him in Turkey. He did not write his articles from our eventful week of reporting and shooting pictures in Syria; his notes, taken obsessively, are barely decipherable. But he would have wanted a record of this final trip, some hint of the questions we sought to answer: Who were these fighters, and did they have any chance of beating the Syrian government? How were they armed and organized? Was the conflict, as in Iraq, worsening sectarian tensions? Just who supported whom? Unlike Anthony, I do not speak Arabic. I’m a photographer who was most interested in capturing images from an expanding war zone. But I will do my best to convey a sense of what Syria, on edge, was like — in a week that invigorated Anthony as a reporter and witness. He could not wait to get back to write. Most fighters we met had recently defected from the Syrian Army, some just days earlier. I was surprised by how open they were. Only rarely would one cover his face or ask that I not take a picture. Most proudly displayed their military ID cards, holding them up like trophies. They said they defected because they refused to obey orders to kill their own people. Anthony and I talked often about what would happen if this struggle did not go their way. As defectors, capture would mean certain death. There have been many reports of jihadis or other foreign fighters flowing into Syria, as if it were the next Afghanistan or Iraq. That is the story the Assad government has used as a justification for cracking down so violently. We saw no evidence of that in Idlib — only Syrians. Anthony was not a thrill seeker, but he understood that the truth had to be found at the source. This is a war, and barracks interviews could not replace the firsthand accounts of battle. A battle came to us unexpectedly while making a routine stop at a base during an otherwise quiet day in Saraqib, in northwestern Syria. Really moving article. https://twitter.com/#!/MulhamJundi finally we get some diesel for power generator !! i'm ready for Media and TV now on Skype from Homs4:20 PM https://twitter.com/#!/ArabSpringFF Atareb, Aleppo has been under siege from regime forces for 19 days now. Bombardement on the town has resumed.4:23 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/paris-mar-4-2012-0928 Sun, 4 Mar 2012, 06:28 GMT+3 - Paris The bodies of American journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were flown from Damascus to Paris on Sunday. The two journalists were killed in Homs last week during attacks by the Syrian army on the Bab Amr neighborhood. The bodies had been formally identified in Damascus on Friday by French and Polish diplomats. On Saturday in Syria, France's ambassador to Damascus Eric Chevallier confirmed that the bodies were placed aboard the Air France flight. Colvin's body was expected to be flown on to the United States on Monday or Tuesday, according to a representative of her newspaper, Britain's The Sunday Times. I'm still perplexed as to how the Syrian army obtained the bodies. (and why they said they had Javier's body as well, lol) http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-syria-rebels-20120304,0,2567510.story Syrian rebels in Idlib bide their timeThey know they aren't equipped for a full-on fight with Assad's army. They stage guerrilla attacks and dream of outside help. The rebels sleep on thin mattresses with AK-47s and handguns by their sides. Their rented apartment has the feel of college dorm meets military barracks — crumpled cigarette packs, old coffee cups, gun magazines and an incongruously feminine touch: plastic sunflowers rimming the doorways. With cellphone coverage blocked by the government, they spend their days meeting at safe houses like this one to strategize. Before the topic of war comes a crucial question. How do you take your coffee? Here in Syria'sIdlib province, a key opposition region in the almost yearlong uprising against the rule of President Bashar Assad, matters of revolution must wait for Arab hospitality. "So that if we die as martyrs, we die with a full stomach," rebel Mustafa Saeed said as he waited for lunch to be served. Despite the urgency of their armed resistance and the rising death toll across the country, rebels here aren't rushing into battle against an army with far superior weapons and organization. Rather, they bide their time, staging guerrilla attacks and planning for the insurgency they want to fight, not the one they are equipped for now. Activist crossing into Syria https://twitter.com/#!/MouhanadSYR Now: Town of Rastan, FSA locations, under attack by Assad Airplanes and Tanks. Homs2:25 AM NOW: There is an ABSOLUTE WAR in Rastan carried out by Assad!!! 2:32 AM Rastan was where government forces shelled a peaceful protest the other day and killed 16 people. https://twitter.com/#!/fieldproducer Reuters reporting that the ICRC says it has the 'green light' to enter Baba Amro and hopes to enter today3:04 AM 3rd time's the charm? It's been what, 3 days now since the FSA pulled out and called on the Red Cross to take care of the people who were still there and needed urgent help? Hopefully there's still some residents left alive in Bab Amr. ---------- Post added March-4th-2012 at 04:19 AM ---------- http://www.timescolonist.com/Syrian+forces+pound+Homs/6248574/story.html Army tanks also deployed in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor Saturday to confront a growing rebel force there - setting up another possible flashpoint.The outside world has proved powerless to halt the killing in Syria, where repression of initially peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule has spawned an armed insurrection. Anti-government activists accused government troops of launching the renewed attack on Homs to punish people in the city, seen as a symbol of the year-long revolt, and arresting hundreds across the country. "In an act of pure revenge, Assad's army has been firing mortar rounds and - machine guns since this morning at Jobar," said the Syrian Network for Human Rights, referring to where rebels had faced nearly a month of siege and shelling before fleeing Thursday. http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/03/syrian-televisions-underwhelming-evidence-of-foreign-backing-for-rebels/ Syrian Television’s Underwhelming Evidence of Foreign Backing for RebelsAs my colleagues Kareem Fahim and Hwaida Saad report, the Syrian government blocked an aid convoy from entering a devastated neighborhood in the city of Homs on Saturday, citing safety concerns, a day after granting access to a state television crew. As it has since the start of the uprising, the state broadcaster presented the violence in Homs as the fault of foreign-backed militants. Reporting on Friday from Baba Amr, the neighborhood shelled for weeks on end by government forces, state television showed anguished residents blaming rebel fighters for their misery. According to a summary of the report on the English-language Web site of Syria’s state news agency: “The authorities restored security and safety to Baba Amr neighborhood in Homs, ridding it of members of armed terrorist groups who ran amok in it and committed murder and vandalism, turning the locals’ life into a living hell.” One of the last shots in the state television report showed a stack of foreign currency, apparently evidence discovered in Baba Amr proving that the rebels were paid agents. A closer examination of the money, however, reveals that all of the the bills are notes of very small denomination withdrawn from circulation years ago in Lebanon, Turkey, Israel and the Philippines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/04/world/meast/syria-videos/index.html New videos posted from the Syrian flashpoint city of Homs suggest a fresh wave of killings by the Syrian military after the fall of the neighborhood of Baba Amr.Activists have provided CNN with footage purportedly showing the bodies of 17 civilians that were discovered February 29 in villages near Baba Amr following an all-out assault on the Homs neighborhood that had held off a government assault for weeks. The activist cited eyewitnesses as claiming that Shabiha and armed forces rushed through the area opening fire on residents. Six men of the Sabouh family were killed, and when other neighbors came to help they were killed as well, the activist said.The incident occurred as many of the rebel Free Syrian Army forces were abandoning the Baba Amr neighborhood of Homs and as residents were trying to flee the city. Interview with reporter Paul Conroy who was smuggled out of Bab Amr. http://www.channel4.com/news/its-a-massacre-and-the-world-sits-by-and-watches http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/Syria 1 hour 36 min agoFrom the AFP: Syrian forces began intensively shelling the mainly rebel-held city of Rastan from daybreak on Sunday, days after routing army deserters from nearby Homs, a monitoring group said. "Since dawn, the positions of deserters in the north of Rastan have been subject to intensive shelling," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP. The rebel fighters had on February 5 declared Rastan to be "liberated" from President Bashar al-Assad's control, but since Homs was overrun by regime forces on Thursday, the deserters have been bracing for an onslaught on Rastan and on Qusayr, also near Homs. Rastan is a strategic city as it falls on the main road linking Damascus with northern Syria. https://twitter.com/#!/iyad_elbaghdadi Sickening video: Shabiha stamping on dead bodies, "Assad only! Assad is your God! Long live the sect!" 4:11 AM My stomach is turning. Shabiha stamping on bloodied bodies "You want to protest, yeah? *Spit* on you." 4:12 AM https://twitter.com/#!/BreakingNews ICRC says it has begun distributing aid in Abel, a village 3 kilometers from Homs, wants to enter Baba Amr today - @Reuters5:34 AM More: ICRC says it will distribute aid in neighborhoods around the Syrian city of Homs to help families that have fled Baba Amr - @Reuters 5:45 AM http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/Syria "The plan is to continue to the neighborhoods of al-Inshaat and al-Tawzii in Homs in order to assist (local) populations and families displaced from Baba Amro." "It is a positive step. But we want to enter Baba Amro today," he added.Assistance included food, blankets and hygiene kits, he said. Red Crescent volunteers were also providing first aid care. [Reuters] I'm not sure anyone is left in those areas next to Bab Amr, they were cleared out and wrecked by the army before they moved in on Bab Amr. At least there is a chance of finding anyone who's still there and seeing what was done. https://twitter.com/#!/tweets4peace Areas being shelled in Hama today: Tal Mileh, Hiyalen & Kafar Hud. Kernaz neighborhood is besieged from all sides by security forces5:36 AM Aljbeen in Hama has been pounded leading to roughly 23 homes on fire and many injured. Security forces have now stormed on land. 5:39 AM A friend in Alqseir homs just shared an fb status "it is clear the troops are about to storm homes, pray for us" - pray for them. 5:43 AM https://twitter.com/#!/sam_to_the_t Anti assad protest slowly filling up, no sign of baathists yet in downtown beirut5:45 AM https://twitter.com/#!/ArabSpringFF Clashes between the FSA and the regime army in Daraya, Damascus Security forces car on fire.5:48 AM Homs: Rastan: 15 artillery shells were dropped on the city and 3 people were martyred and dozens were injured, most of whom are children. 6:02 AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/04/world/meast/syria-unrest/index.html?hpt=hp_t3 Rockets fall on Syrian city of Rastan, opposition activists sayRelentless Syrian forces took aim at the city of Rastan on Sunday, hitting it with 15 rockets in as many minutes, opposition activists said. The government attack killed three people and injured dozens -- mostly children, according to Rastan opposition activists. The opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said 15 people were killed Sunday, including seven in Homs, three in Damascus, one in Aleppo, one in Daraa, one in Deir Ezzor, one in Idlib, and one in Hama. The Syrian Network for Human Rights, another opposition group, also reported deaths in several cities. The savage nightmare in the Syrian city of Homs will only intensify after government forces stormed the embattled neighborhood of Baba Amr in Homs, opposition activists said Sunday. "The news coming from the families who fled after the entry of the Assad military forces is that there are more horrors, more killings and surely more massacres," said Rania Kisar, a Chicago-based member of the Syrian Revolution General Commission. http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/305864 'HORRIFIED' BY SON-IN-LAW BASHAR AL ASSADTHE LONDON-based father-in-law of Syrian President Bashar al Assad last night begged him to make democratic changes to his strife-torn country “before it’s too late”. Harley Street cardiologist Dr Fawaz Akhras, says he is “horrified” by his son-in-law’s savage suppression of the uprising in Syria which has cost the lives of at least 7,000 ordinary civilians. As Syrian troops renewed their ferocious bombardment of the city of Homs he revealed for the first time that he has been quietly pushing for reform since before the revolution began last March. Dr Akhras, admits he is also fearful for the safety of his British-born daughter Asma, 36, who married Assad 12 years ago. There are rumours that she is being kept under virtual house arrest in Damascus by the president’s henchmen who fear she might attempt to leave the country – a move that would severely damage the regime. Dr Fawaz refuses to discuss the worsening situation in public, but he has told friends in the British Syrian Society he is now in an “impossible position”, caught between family loyalty and worldwide condemnation of the increasing brutality of his son-in-law’s regime. Last night Malik al-Abdeh, who works in London for a Syrian opposition television station and lives in the same street as the Akhras family, said: “They are all tainted. But I think Asma Assad must be horrified by what is happening. She grew up here; her ethics and morality were formed in Britain.”Muna Nashashibi, a board member of the British Syrian Society, said Dr Akhras had “worked hard to build bridges between Britain and Syria, initiating lots of changes to open up the business sector” and “seemed very sincere”. https://twitter.com/#!/SeekerSK Idlib: Ma'arat Nu'man: Defection of officer & soldiers 1:34 PM Homs: Rastan: 5 Children martyred by random shelling: Ayah Ahmad Ayoub (1 yr) Ibrahim Ahmad Ayoub (3 yr) Muhammad Ayman Ayoub (10 yr) 1:19 PM Martyrs Cont.: Eman Muhammad Ayoub (14 yr), & a child we couldn't identify b/c his body was so mutilated, & Mrs Zubayda Fadel Ayoub (30 yr) 1:21 PM While you take home videos of your kids walking or their first word, we take home videos of their gunshot wounds & corpses. 2:28 PM :mad::mad: https://twitter.com/#!/Brian_Whit Syria: Red Cross blocked again from Baba Amr http://gu.com/p/36v58/tw via @guardian1:15 PM Seems like the regime is waiting until everyone in Bab Amr is confirmed dead to let the ICRC in. Or maybe they haven't bussed in all their phony residents yet. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1590269&l=23050aea13&id=217848338242310 Hama: Har Banafsa: The thugs (Shabeha) of the Pro-Assad Alameen town committed a new massacre where 13 martyrs have fallen. Thugs targeted with their machin guns a shuttle transporting employees heading to their jobs at the Fertilizers Factory in Tal Al-Shor area which led to the martyrdom of the majority. The names out of the 13 martyrs that we have so far are: Jamal Al-Shamy, Mahmoud Al-Shamy, Ahmad Al-Masry, 3 young men from Akkari family, and one from the Ibrahim family 12 minutes ago http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/04/us-syria-conflict-idUSTRE8230JP20120304 After Homs, Syria seen facing Bosnia-style war http://mar15.info/2012/03/davutoglu-compares-syrian-killings-to-srebrenica-massacre/ Davutoğlu compares Syrian killings to Srebrenica massacre Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said on Saturday that brutal violence perpetrated by President Bashar al-Assad in Syria resembles the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia, which was later recognized as genocide.“The way Syria is heading resembles the situation in Srebrenica,” said Davutoğlu during a joint press conference with his Italian counterpart Giulio Terzi, calling on the international community to strengthen its criticism of the violence that has been inflicted against the Syrian people by their government for over a year. Srebrenica — with its majority Muslim population — was a United Nations-protected area besieged by Serb forces throughout the 1992-95 war for Serb domination in Bosnia. There, Serbs proceeded to round up Srebrenica’s Muslims and killed over 8,000 men and boys, marking the climax to the 1992-95 Bosnian war that claimed 100,000 lives. An international court later labeled the killings as genocide. Davutoğlu claimed the international community should take preventive measures, including providing military assistance to opposition forces, in order to discourage the Assad regime from committing further atrocities. So...what's he waiting for? lol http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/04/us-iraq-tribes-syria-idUSTRE82307B20120304 Iraq Sunni tribes warn against arming Syrian oppositionWhen they see the plight of their Syrian kinsmen across the border, the Sunni tribesmen of western Iraq understand their rage. But with their own experience of civil war still fresh, they want to stop arms from feeding the conflict next door. "We extend the hand of help to any oppressed people who want to live in freedom," he said, adding peaceful aid for Syria could come in the form of material and moral support.Demonstrations in support of the Syrian people's revolt have sprung up in Anbar's main cities Fallujah and Ramadi in recent weeks. That's as far as support goes, the tribal leaders said. The sheikhs criticized Gulf Arab countries Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait for backing the arming of Syrian rebels, and said they should exert more political pressure on Assad. "The human casualties will increase, the innocent will lose their lives. The authorities will take over the weapons, and the population pays the price," said Khalifa, when asked whether the opposition should be given more weapons. "Where are the kings and rulers of other countries? Arab countries always take the position of spectators with each other," he said. Sheikh Hnein, who regularly travels to Syria as a merchant, said Qatar and Saudi Arabia were supporting the opposition at the expense of the "collapse of the state." "Foreign intervention should have the aim of solving, not escalating," he said. Now this is interesting. I wish I could agree with them. Unfortunately not fighting back won't keep the regime from arresting, executing, gunning down, or shelling the peaceful protesters. It might make them much less likely to go out and protest though knowing there will be no protection for them. I think the only way the slaughter in Syria will stop now is with a long prolonged bloody struggle between the opposition and the government, or some sort of international intervention. Of course it is possible that the government could collapse in a few months from economic pressure, but I'm not sure what the result would be, and Assad might still be able to keep power through fear. And US intel has said that there aren't really any cracks in the inner circle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1590324&l=571db66add&id=217848338242310 Local Coordination Committees in Syria: The number of martyrs in Syria today has risen to 49 thus far including 7 children, 3 women and 1 martyr under torture. In Homs city, there were 17 martyrs, six of them were executed at the field in Baba Amr. Eighteen martyrs in Hama including 13 in a massacre committed by the regime against laborers in Har Banafsa area and 4 from Taybat Al-Imam who were martyred on Wednesday and their corpses were delivered to their families today. Also, 4 martyrs in Damascus suburbs, 3 in Daraa, 3 in Idlib, 2 in Aleppo and one in each of Banyas and Deir Ezzor 13 minutes ago Another problem with trying to go for a strictly peaceful revolution is that it would require soldiers to choose between killing for the regime or being killed by it. Defecting usually results in them being hunted after and often includes clashes with loyal soldiers. http://www.facebook.com/BritishSyrianRevolution/posts/335604179824896 LCC: Daraa: Tafas: Clashes between the Free Syrian Army and the regime's army in the city after several soldiers defected. A colonel of the regime's army was killed 10 minutes ago https://twitter.com/#!/NOW_Syria Syrian soldiers and defectors are clashing in Damascus’ Jawbar, Al-Jazeera reported 2:47 PM Just when I thought things couldn't get any more horrific: https://twitter.com/#!/ArabSpringFF Homs: Man recording says that the regime is burning bodies to hide massacres in Baba Amr. Can smell burning hair & flesh 3:15 PM http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/04/syrian-refugees-homs-lebanon?CMP=twt_fd Syrians flee Homs for Lebanon"Between one and two thousand [syrians] are in the process of coming from Syria to Lebanon," the UNHCR's deputy representative in Lebanon, Jean Paul Cavalieri, told Reuters. "This is what we are hearing from our teams on the ground and local authorities." The exodus from Syria's third city has intensified since loyalist forces ousted the opposition Free Syria Army from the Baba Amr neighbourhood on Friday. There is little information about the fate of up to 20,000 residents thought to be there when the siege began four weeks ago. For the third day running, the International Committee for the Red Cross was denied access to Baba Amr despite earlier assurances that it could deliver aid to residents trapped in the fighting. A seven-truck ICRC convoy has been waiting since Friday to enter Baba Amr, with local military authorities saying aid officials were being kept out for their own safety because of the presence of bombs and landmines, which they allege were left by opposition forces. Activists and Free Syria Army officials vehemently deny having booby-trapped the area and say the regime has concocted a ruse to hide its activities there. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/04/escaped-homs-syrian-forces-closed?CMP=twt_gu How I escaped from Homs as Syrian forces closed inThe motley procession seemed like something out of the 17th-century Spain described by the writer Francisco de Quevedo. One injured man was in his underwear, with his legs, head and arms bandaged up, using his working hand to grasp his drip. He could barely walk. Then came a limping man, wounded in his foot, who hopped or was carried on a friend's back. Another young man, his leg shattered by shrapnel, was transported on a blanket held by others. Ahmed, his arm and leg lacerated by shrapnel from a rocket, leaned on Mohamed, who struggled onwards with a sniper's bullet in his back. Journalists Paul Conroy and Edith Bouvier, both wounded, were part of the same strange troop, along with two other correspondents, including me. Fifty or more of us – many disabled by their wounds – were trying to break out of the besieged neighbourhood of Baba Amr, in Homs, fleeing the final attack unleashed by the Syrian regime. It was to be a risky night-time dash through Syrian army lines, which would prove just how desperate these people, abandoned to their luck, had become. "Get down! Get down! Snipers!"The group began to splinter. Most went to hide in ruined buildings. The seriously injured could do no more than throw themselves to the ground. On this occasion, the flares lit up an area away from where we were. But it was a taste of the chaos to come. "Mummy! Mummy!" Terrified children called out as they walked. The Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters tried to quieten them. But it was too late. The firing started as suddenly as the flares. Bullets ricocheted around us. A burst of gunfire forced us to hide in the scrub. Then a hail of bullets broke up the group. We ran across fields. Bullets whistled past. I followed Mohamed and Ahmed, who seemed to have forgotten the shrapnel in his leg. He hopped and trotted at an incredible speed. Later he would joke about it: "How on earth could I run like that, when I can't even walk?" The three of us hid in a copse of trees, cowering there for more than an hour as shots continued to ring out nearby. http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/putin-defends-syria-stance-but-calls-for-end-to-violence/454056.html Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday accused the West of fueling the Syrian conflict by backing opposition forces, but the Foreign Ministry said it will not protect Syria from military intervention. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/04/us-syria-usa-senators-idUSTRE8230LZ20120304 Senator Lindsey Graham, an influential Republican voice on international policy, also said he was joining with Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal to push a Senate resolution calling on the United Nations to declare Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a war criminal.Both senators are members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "We need more international pressure," Graham told the program "Fox News Sunday." "We need to help the rebels militarily, economically, and let Assad know that he is an international outlaw and be held accountable." "I think the Arab League would be a good vehicle to provide military assistance to the opposition forces and we should consider that. We should consider (a) 'no drive, no fly' zone, too, pretty quickly," Graham added. Referring to the U.S. Congress, Blumenthal said, "There is very strong support for the kinds of initiatives that we saw in Libya. And Libya is a model for how we can aid rebels.""But let me emphasize ... no American troops - none. No American troops on the ground, in direct aid, that will bolster that opposition," Blumenthal added. There also has been little international appetite for military intervention in Syria.Blumenthal said Clinton was doing a very good job of bringing together the world community, including the Arab League, in support of aid to Syria's opposition. https://twitter.com/#!/LccSy Night Demonstration in Sarjeh Damscus 82vN_O4Mjsw Night demonstration in Shaikh Fares Aleppo P0NMf_3JFHE Demonstration in Ma'arat Noman OZQa7s5YIrc Not sure where that is Night demonstration in Qusor Homs 6rvYDDGEYKU ---------- Post added March-4th-2012 at 04:43 PM ---------- http://www.twitlonger.com/show/g8k872 Received now, again have relatives here (next to baba amr) I just made a telephone call with woman fled from al-Sultaniyya: she said a big massacre is happening now in Al-Sulataniyyah by Assad troops. Women raped, the head of peoples can be seen on streets. Assad thugs breaking into houses and arresting every one more than 14 yrs age. sometimes they killing childern. All men have been arrested on the checkpoints when they fleeing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 https://twitter.com/#!/NMSyria URGENT LCC: Daraa: Tanks and APC's have entered city from the stadium going towards the city center. Please take caution. RETWEET!5:33 PM https://twitter.com/#!/Bambuser_Alert LIVE NOW: Assad forces entering Daraa: Broadcster is in dangerous position. Pls [do] not use chat: http://bambuser.com/v/24247405:33 PM It's no longer live. I think this link is though for the moment. http://bambuser.com/v/2424753 Wow, loud explosions and gunfire...not sure what's happening. https://twitter.com/#!/Mou2amara LIVE Broadcast now from Daraa as tanks roll into the city. 2 explosions reported, tanks under broadcaster bldg http://bambuser.com/v/24247535:42 PM It looks like they're cracking down on the other cities now. I wonder if they might be overextending themselves a bit though. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1590634&l=e5f78043a7&id=217848338242310 Idlib: The regime's army gives the city one day to hand over the members of the Free Syrian Army and their weapons and cars or else the city will be stormed with tanks and heavy machinery.There are reports of 4 battalions of the regime's army being centered in the village Mastouma, ready to storm Idlib. Mastouma is the closest village to the city. The threat followed a meeting of the commanding officer with the elders of the city https://twitter.com/#!/MidEasternist Danny Abdul Dayem @ Harvard about to speak on Syria http://pic.twitter.com/5GJsl0vH5:59 PM (Activist who narrated early videos of destruction during the Bab Amr siege and escaped a week or so ago.) https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1590648&l=20b67d2738&id=217848338242310 Local Coordination Committees in Syria Sunday ended with 59 marytrs including 7 children, 3 women and 1 martyr under torture. In Homs city, there were 17 martyrs, six of them were executed at the field in Baba Amr. Eighteen martyrs in Hama including 13 in a massacre committed by the regime against laborers in Har Banafsa area and 4 from Taybat Al-Imam who were martyred on Wednesday and their corpses were delivered to their families today. Also, 12 martyrs in Damascus suburbs including 8 young men who were executed in Madaya, 4 in Daraa, 3 in Idlib, 2 in Aleppo and one in each of Banyas,Damascus and Deir Ezzor a few seconds ago By the way, the man doing the Daraa livefeed is speaking English to explain what is going on every now and then. But he could be targeted and killed if he is overheard on the ground by security forces. Apparently secret police are now talking to each other under his building. Tanks are moving around the building now. I think there's some gunshots in the background again. The guy doing the broadcast just said that one young man was killed and some other men ran away The security forces are looking for them. (After things quieted down again and tanks and secret police went away the livefeed guy turned off the camera and went downstairs) So he got through it ok, physically at least. Unless of course the police came back after the recording stopped....) https://twitter.com/#!/Bambuser_Alert We're grateful to hear that Freedompioneer on @Bambuser is safe for now. 7:27 PM https://twitter.com/#!/Repent11 FSA: ' We conducted attack with light weapons, machine guns on Air Force Intelligence in Harasta-Damascus"6:28 PM https://twitter.com/#!/ArabSpringFF FSA attacking the Air Force Intelligence branch in Harasta, Damascus 6:24 PM A couple of older videos that I don't recall seeing before. http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2012/03/01/dnt-damon-and-team-reflect-on-syria-trip.cnn Syria: A dangerous place for journalistsAdded on March 1, 2012 CNN's Arwa Damon and her team reflect on their dangerous trip to Homs and the high risks they took to cover the story. http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2012/02/17/damon-homs-devestation.cnn Walking through a deserted HomsAdded on February 17, 2012 Streets in Homs, Syria, are deserted and most remaining residents stay indoors. CNN's Arwa Damon reports. https://twitter.com/#!/josephwillits Hospital worker smuggles images out of Homs which give proof that some doctors are torturing patients http://bit.ly/wlqGxa 6:34 PM https://twitter.com/#!/tweets4peace An unidentified girl dead today under severe shelling on Alrastan homs 6:36 PM Devastation. Massacre. Genocide. Shelling. Starving. Homeless. The forgotten Alrastan in homs. Horrific crimes by Assad. 7:14 PM Videos of Destruction in Al Rastan l_DFCH7fG8s IaJQVNMgjBo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1590838&l=24764f968d&id=217848338242310 Local Coordination Committee Sunday has ended with 62 martyrs fallen in Syria including 7 children, 3 women and 1 martyr who was tortured to death. The distributions are as follows: 17 martyrs in Homs (6 of whom were executed at the field in Baba Amr neighbourhood); 18 martyrs in Hama (including 13 died in the workers massacre in the area of Har Benafsah); 12 martyrs in Damascus Suburbs (including 8 who were killed in the town of Madaya); 4 martyrs in Daraa, 5 martyrs in Idlib, 2 martyrs in each of Damascus and Aleppo, and one martyr in each of Banyas and Deir Ezzor. 10 minutes ago http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/Syria 14 hours 58 min ago Two YouTube videos reportedly shot today in the village of Deraa. The first video shows protesters chanting for "revolution" and "freedom", while the second reportedly shows tanks driving through the streets. These were from Saturday 5AlUM6RASow DQ5DqWh0MDM http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/05/us-syria-south-idUSTRE82401W20120305 Heavy clashes erupt in south Syria near Jordan borderHeavy fighting broke out overnight between armored forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and rebels who launched coordinated attacks on army roadblocks across the southern city of Deraa on the border with Jordan, opposition activists said Monday. But opposition sources say rebels loosely organised under the Free Syrian Army banner have intensified assaults on loyalist targets in southern, north and eastern Syria in the last few days to relieve pressure in the city of Homs, where troops overran the rebel district of Baba Amro last week. "The Free Syrian Army attacked several roadblocks and street fortifications simultaneously. Tanks are responding by firing 14 mm anti-aircraft guns into residential neighborhoods and army snipers are shooting at everything that moves, even nylon bags," Maher Abdelhaq, one of the activists, told Reuters from Deraa. "About 20 buses carrying troops were seen heading from the football stadium in the north to the southern sector the city on the border (with Jordan)," he added. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-officials-iran-is-stepping-up-lethal-aid-to-syria/2012/03/02/gIQAGR9XpR_story.html U.S. officials: Iran is stepping up lethal aid to Syria http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/Syria 7 hours 10 min agoIsrael has offered to assist international efforts to provide humanitarian aid to Syria without intervening directly in the conflict enveloping its neighbouring enemy. Calling the bloodshed of President Bashar el-Assad's efforts to crush a 11 year-old uprising in Syria "more shocking than the worst horror movies in Hollywood," Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman also urged greater world efforts to end the violence. "In Israel we think it is essential to stop this violence and we are ready to supply any humanitarian aid necessary," Lieberman told Israel's Army Radio in an interview, but stressed Israel would not act independently in this regard. "We need to set all political considerations aside," Lieberman said. "What is happening there, in the 21st century, is intolerable. We must render assistance." "Whatever is necessary, whatever will be asked of us we can provide." https://twitter.com/#!/abuhatem Watch lots of blood and guts coming out of this guy's mouth in Rastan, Syria then thank God you live in the USA.9:03 PM Protest in Salamieh Syria 2 days ago. mH8EG89-26M http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2012/03/02/robertson-syrian-survival.cnn#/video/world/2012/03/02/robertson-syrian-survival.cnn Struggling to survive in town near HomsAdded on March 2, 2012 CNN's Nic Robertson uses a freelancer's video to show how a Syrian town near Homs survives surrounded by tanks. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204276304577261341366601000.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet Gulf Arab rulers have sent little to Syria's opposition in the way of weapons, money or fighters despite their own international calls to do so, say people close to the Saudi government, Syrian rebel commanders and Syrian exiles involved in the aid effort.The Gulf leaders say the Syrian rebels need to be able to better defend themselves, but they also share some of the same concerns as the West about any extremists among forces opposing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, these people say. The U.S. and others haven't advocated arming the rebels, in part out of fear it would create an even more bloody and prolonged conflict. For now, commanders of the Syrian opposition, outgunned and outmanned by Mr. Assad's forces, are having to turn away the Saudi young men who are beginning to call to volunteer, one Syrian rebel officer said at a military camp of the rebel Free Syrian Army inside Turkey. "I tell them, 'God bless you, sons, but we don't have enough weapons for ourselves. If you want to help, send money,' " the Syrian rebel officer said. In Syria and among Free Syrian Army fighters taking refuge at the group's camps across the Turkish border, however, no evidence has emerged of large amounts of arms arriving for Syrian rebel forces. So far, Syria's rebel fighters appear to have obtained some arms from inside Syria, or from gray arms markets in surrounding countries such as Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq, according to analysts and officials.But accounts from inside Syria consistently describe rebel fighters as armed only with light weapons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/Syria 3 hours 44 min agoA worsening humanitarian crisis is taking place across Syria. Activists have reported shelling in more areas including Qusayr, Rastan, Idlib and Hama. And as the army continues its offensive, the potential grows for large numbers of people becoming displaced or having to flee as refugees from the violence around them. 2 hours 40 min agoIn a rare televised news conference on Sunday, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said the kingdom welcomed international efforts to broker a ceasefire in Syria but added that they have "failed to stop the massacres.'' "Is there something greater than the right to defend oneself and to defend human rights?'' he asked, adding that the Syrian people want to defend themselves. "The regime is not wanted by the people,'' he said. "The regime is insisting on imposing itself by force on the Syrian people,'' he said. [AP] 1 hour 16 min ago - Moscow Russia will meet with foreign ministers of Arab states to discuss the Syria crisis in Cairo on March 10, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday. "I especially value today's chance to prepare for a meeting of the foreign ministers of Russia and the Arab League states that will be held in Cairo on March 10," news agencies quoted Lavrov as saying after talks with his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh. 29 min 2 sec agoChina says it will send another envoy to Syria in a bid to convince the Assad regime of the need for a ceasefire, and to emphasise that it remains against outside intervention. The Foreign Ministry said Monday that former ambassador to Syria Li Huaqing would visit Damascus on Tuesday and Wednesday. That announcement followed the release Sunday of a Chinese proposal calling for an immediate ceasefire in Syria and talks by all parties but standing firm against any intervention by outside forces. [AP] 23 min 2 sec agoThe International Committee of the Red Cross said on Monday that it is still awaiting permission from the Syrian authorities to enter Baba Amr, the rebellious district of Homs overrun last week by regime forces. "Negotiations are still ongoing," ICRC spokesman Saleh Dabbakeh told AFP. This is just ****ing ridiculous! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9122749/Thirteen-French-soldiers-captured-by-Syrian-Army.html Thirteen French soldiers 'captured by Syrian Army'The group are allegedly being held in a field hospital in the besieged city of Homs, according to a Damascus-based Pro-Syrian Palestinian source, The Daily Star newspaper in Lebanon reported. Officials in Paris and Damascus are said to be brokering a deal on what to do with the French nationals, the unnamed source claimed. No explanation as to why the French troops had been in Syria was given nor was any indication as to whether they had been part of a larger contingent. French officials have denied the report to The Daily Telegraph. French journalist William Daniels, who was smuggled out of Syria last week, told French radio this morning that French troops were not involved in his escape. Damascus has not commented on the possible presence of French troops on Syrian soil. I doubt it's true. https://twitter.com/#!/ArabSpringFF Today in Mazzeh is the funeral of Muhannad Al-Mulla, who was executed in Homs for refusing to fire on civilians. Damascus2:59 AM The regime has not handed over the body of Muhannad Mulla to his family yet to try and avoid the funeral taking place 2day 4:01 AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/05/world/meast/syria-unrest/index.html?hpt=wo_c1 After pummeling the western city of Rastan over the weekend, Syrian government troops turned their lethal attention to cities across the country Monday, opposition activists said.At least eight people were killed, including two in Daraa, one in Aleppo, two in Idlib, two in Homs, and one in Damascus, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition activist group. One of those killed in Idlib was a 14-year-old victim of sniper fire near a factory, the group said. The Syrian regime has also ramped up raids and arrests across the country, detaining hundreds of civilians in the past two days, the network said Monday. It said Syrian journalist and blogger Rafaa Masri was among those recently detained. Rebel forces said they drove out the army in Rastan -- but also ceded that most of their fighters had retreated from the besieged area, which sits between the flashpoint cities of Homs and Hama.Capt. Ammar al-Wawi said the Free Syrian Army's withdrawal from Rastan "was strategic to save the people's lives." "We don't want to give the regime any excuse to kill more civilians," Wawi said Monday. "It was a tactical withdrawal in order to create better circumstances and to get ready for the next step." Wawi said he thinks a growing number of defections from Syrian troops are affecting the government's tactics. "The regime is avoiding direct confrontations with the FSA fighters, so they attack and bomb the cities using artillery ... and rockets because when they fight us on the ground, we always end up getting more defectors joining our sides," he said. http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/Syria 46 min 17 sec agoDespite daring attacks by the Free Syrian Army, the government continues to raid places like Homs and Deraa and arrest suspected opposition members. Saudi Arabia's foreign minister says giving opposition fighters more guns would help them fight back. As President Bashar al Assad's forces take back more of the country every day, Al Jazeera's Laurence Lee assesses whether it's too late to arm the opposition. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17259471 Eyewitness: 'Slaughtered like sheep' in HomsOn a road out of Homs I saw the exodus from Baba Amr. These people endured weeks under bombardment then fled, panicked, before troops arrived. One woman screamed: "We are homeless. Why? Because we asked for freedom." People are terrified of what government forces will do now that they have entered Baba Amr, the district of Homs controlled until last Thursday by the rebels of the Free Syrian Army. One group had walked for three days to avoid the soldiers. One man told me that any man detained at a checkpoint is killed. "They took our husbands, they took them at the checkpoint, they will slaughter them like sheep," one woman said. This family says that they witnessed a massacre. On Friday, they say, troops took 36 men and boys from one district and killed them all. "My son's throat was cut," a woman told me. "He was 12." "One soldier held each down with a boot and the other came with a knife," says her husband, who was hiding 50m away. "I could hear their screams." check out the whole story and the video. https://twitter.com/#!/ZeinakhodrAljaz UN humanitarian chief says she will urge all parties to allow unhindered access 4 aid workers to deliver aid & evacuate wounded10:32 AM EU foreign policy chief: "We need some action on Syria from intl community to get aid that's so desperately needed into Homs right now" 11:07 AM Russia should recognize need for new Syria leadership, EU foreign policy chief says 11:08 AM More useless talk. More pointless urging. And more relying on Syria's government to do the right thing while they continue their massacres. https://twitter.com/#!/SchamsEU ICRC director-general: “At the moment access to Baba Amr is blocked by the Syrian army & Government.” Not the rebels.11:47 AM https://twitter.com/#!/tweets4peace Assad tank shells and mortar bombs on Alrastan have resumed now. War zone, similar to Baba Amr. Little media. God help them.11:50 AM At least there's some good news https://twitter.com/#!/DSyrer The "Free Alawites" FSA company is formed in Idleb under the command of Cpt. Saleh al-Saleh http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUzFhCr_bwU ---------- Post added March-5th-2012 at 12:37 PM ---------- https://twitter.com/#!/Bambuser_Alert LIVE NOW: Lot of evening demos in Syria. Follow them here: http://ow.ly/9sFAW daraa homs aleppo damascus12:28 PM https://twitter.com/#!/KenRoth Syria will receive Kofi Annan on Mar 10. It'll be a tough job to circumvent Assad's efforts to talk while killing. http://reut.rs/zLHLtm12:26 PM Protest in Deir Ezzour right now. http://bambuser.com/v/2426727 Protest in Bab Drieb, Homs dGENWnf6tVA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/03/05/mccain_to_call_for_air_strikes_on_syria McCain to call for air strikes on Syria Later today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services, will become the first U.S. senator to publicly call for U.S. led air strikes to halt the violence and atrocities being committed by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad."After a year of bloodshed, the crisis in Syria has reached a decisive moment," McCain will say Monday afternoon in a speech on the Senate floor, according to excerpts obtained in advance by The Cable. "What opposition groups in Syria need most urgently is relief from Assad's tank and artillery sieges in many cities that are still contested. Homs is lost for now, but Idlib, and Hama, and Qusayr, and Deraa, and other cities in Syria could still be saved," McCain will say. "But time is running out. Assad's forces are on the march. Providing military assistance to the Free Syrian Army and other opposition groups is necessary, but at this late hour, that alone will not be sufficient to stop the slaughter and save innocent lives. The only realistic way to do so is with foreign airpower." "To be clear: This will require the United States to suppress enemy air defenses in at least part of the country," McCain will say. "The ultimate goal of airstrikes should be to establish and defend safe havens in Syria, especially in the north, in which opposition forces can organize and plan their political and military activities against Assad. These safe havens could serve as platforms for the delivery of humanitarian and military assistance -- including weapons and ammunition, body armor and other personal protective equipment, tactical intelligence, secure communications equipment, food and water, and medical supplies. These safe havens could also help the Free Syrian Army and other armed groups in Syria to train and organize themselves into more cohesive and effective military forces, likely with the assistance of foreign partners." "Increasingly, the question for U.S. policy is not whether foreign forces will intervene militarily in Syria. We can be confident that Syria's neighbors will do so eventually, if they have not already. Some kind of intervention will happen, with us or without us. So the real question for U.S. policy is whether we will participate in this next phase of the conflict in Syria, and thereby increase our ability to shape an outcome that is beneficial to the Syrian people, and to us. I believe we must."He will also drive home the point that the situation in Syria is now as dire as the situation was in Libya before the U.S. led a NATO intervention there last year. "The kinds of mass atrocities that NATO intervened in Libya to prevent in Benghazi are now a reality in Homs. Indeed, Syria today is the scene of some of the worst state-sponsored violence since Milosevic's war crimes in the Balkans, or Russia's annihilation of the Chechen city of Grozny," McCain will say. 1. I don't see this happening right now or soon. 2 Something needs to be done very soon if not now. 3. I think at this point, intervention is inevitable and necessary. 4. I don't think the US should be directly leading this effort militarily. 5. We should however in my opinion coordinate a regional coalition...now 6. Syrians on twitter are cheering McCain on right now, lol, even though they know nothing will probably come of this. https://twitter.com/#!/NMSyria BreakingNews : Canada has closed its embassy in Syria.2:28 PM http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_16026/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=i5S7QsnN Syrian refugees fleeing to neighboring Lebanon on Monday said they feared they would be slaughtered in their own homes as government forces hunted down opponents in a brutal offensive against the opposition stronghold of Homs.Activists accused the regime of trying to hide its crimes from the world as the military cracks down on an anti-government uprising that has raged for nearly a year. With world pressure at a peak in the boiling crisis, the Syrian regime agreed to allow in two prominent international emissaries it had previously rebuffed - former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the new special envoy to Syria, and U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos. Annan goes to Damascus on Saturday and Amos said she will arrive in the capital on Wednesday and leave on Friday. Amos said the aim of the visit is "to urge all sides to allow unhindered access for humanitarian relief workers so they can evacuate the wounded and deliver essential supplies." The Obama administration added Syrian state television and radio to a U.S. sanctions list - part of an effort to block Syrian government assets within the U.S. The Treasury Department's sanctions chief, Adam Szubin, said the Syrian General Organization of Radio and TV has "served as an arm of the Syrian regime as it mounts increasingly barbaric attacks on its own population and seeks both to mask and legitimize its violence." He said any institutions supporting President Bashar Assad government's "abhorrent behavior will be targeted and cut off from the international financial system." The U.N. refugee agency said Monday that as many as 2,000 Syrians crossed into Lebanon over the last two days. In the Lebanese border village of Qaa, families with women with small children came carrying only plastic bags filled with a few belongings. https://twitter.com/#!/BSyria Haha, who just joked that Mccain will get an FSA brigade named after him? Seems very likely now2:42 PM As a pro-freedom Syrian I cannot lie and say that Mccain's speech is not making me slightly happy. 2:52 PM Right now McCain is saying what Syrians and journalists who've been there have been saying for months. https://twitter.com/#!/abuliberali @SenJohnMcCain "The surest way for AQ to gain a foothold in Syria is for us to turn our backs on the Syrian opposition."2:51 PM https://twitter.com/#!/JonaRenz "There are no ideal options in Syria. All carry risks. But that should not keep us from acting." @senjohnmccain2:47 PM https://twitter.com/#!/oh_bergine Dear Syrians, obviously someone has been listening to you @SenJohnMccain2:57 PM https://twitter.com/#!/Nora0315 Remembering Kafranbel sign: "Obama's procrastination is killing us...World is better with America's Republicans." http://twitpic.com/8sgs9a3:08 PM lol (I think that's a little shortsighted, but who am I to judge them? ha ha) In any case, while I disagree with some details of the solution called for by McCain, hopefully it will spur some awareness in America of the situation there and get more action going here. Also McCain got pretty much all the things he said about Syria right. Although I might quibble over the idea that Homs is lost just yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 https://twitter.com/#!/tweets4peace Syria army shelling Homs and nearby villages, opposition says http://lat.ms/wVFtJP3:15 PM My uncles wifes FAMILY. Sabouh. Massacred by REGIME. & put on Assad TV to show terrorists killed them. DISGUSTING 5:52 PM https://twitter.com/#!/LeShaque Assad's army scored several direct mortar hits on residences in Rastan in the past hour but fortunately managed not to kill anyone.5:24 PM https://twitter.com/#!/KareemLailah Assad troops were shelling & storming homes in the city of Yabrood today.5:17 PM Huge explosions were heard in Barzeh area in Damascus, few minutes ago. 5:21 PM https://twitter.com/#!/Basma_ A funeral Mass is scheduled for March 12 in New York for journalist Marie Colvin, who was killed covering the uprising in Syria4:04 PM https://twitter.com/#!/ahmed AP: NY Funeral Set for US Journalist Killed in Syria http://abcn.ws/A8dWFv4:07 PM https://twitter.com/#!/THE_47th Strange the U.S was really quite/issued no condemnation about the loss of the great American citizen Marie Colvin @ te hand of Assad forces4:11 PM https://twitter.com/#!/farGar Did you ever think the day would come when Syrians would be applauding John McCain & bashing Hugo Chavez? Boy have the times changed3:55 PM Check this page for links to news or videos on more attacks/protests. https://twitter.com/#!/LccSy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 https://twitter.com/#!/Nora0315 Assad knows that the worst fears of West are Islamists/Al-Qaeda and he's using this fear to his advantage. World should know better.4:46 PM Homs activist: "We hate Al-Qaeda and we don't want them in our country. They target civilians, they are just as bad as Assad." 4:47 PM The number of civilians killed in Syria has officially surpassed 10,000. Among them - 710 children. More than 4300 deaths in Homs alone. 7:42 PM I think it's pretty close to 10,000 now, but I think it might be a hundred or so below that. More quotes from that BBC article that I posted in here this morning: https://twitter.com/#!/Nora0315 Heartbreaking story of the mass exodus of civilians from Baba Amr in Homs. The truth behind the Assad regime - http://bbc.in/zNfFEY.7:52 PM "They killed them all. I saw it. A soldier held each one & then another came to cut their throats. I could hear their screams." 8:05 PM Homs: "Army took my father, uncle, cousin, & brother. I saw them kill them all. I heard my father shout 'God is great' as he died." 8:07 PM Homs: "A 60-year-old man was brought to the base. The soldiers starting beating him & cursing him, saying 'This is for freedom'." 8:11 PM Homs: "Ali, an Alawite member of the FSA, was so angered & disgusted by what he had seen in the government army, he had to desert." 8:13 PM https://twitter.com/#!/tweets4peace i feel horrible. how can a bashar do this. i can't even call and ask who is alive or dead. i wait for martyr lists daily. what life is this8:05 PM https://twitter.com/#!/edwardedark I was having dinner with a shabih just now "I do it for money" he said, "why are you against the regime, you benefited?" he asked me7:46 PM shabih I was with tonight "we're receiving money & weapons from regime & its supporters, we see this regime as very strong it will not fall" 7:57 PM he's a mutual friend in a large group that got together tonight. he's actually quite a good guy 8:00 PM https://twitter.com/#!/edwardedark @BlondeSyriana eh mishe, I'm inside Syria and so is all my family. and I want someone to bomb the hell out of Assad and his forces ba2a8:10 PM @BlondeSyriana fact is, Assad will continue to slaughter protesters and activists indefinitely. he can only be stopped through intervention 8:31 PM @WashingtonPoint there's no such thing as a "sophisticated air defense system" in Syria. the most modern hardware we have is from the 80's 8:32 PM @BlondeSyriana la2, I'm more interested in how NATO prevented a bloodbath and saved lives in Kosovo and Libya. we want the same in Syria 8:43 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9124586/Syrian-forces-carrying-out-mass-arrests-and-executions-in-Homs.html Syrian forces 'carrying out mass arrests and executions' in HomsThe accounts of atrocities coincide with the regime's continued refusal to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to enter Baba Amr, which was captured by the army last week. President Bashar al-Assad's regime has broken an earlier assurance that the ICRC would be allowed in, suggesting that his army is trying to cover up the aftermath of the fighting. A resident of Homs styling himself Abu Abdo told the Daily Telegraph how his 17-year-old cousin was caught up in a bloody reprisal attack in Baba Amr carried out by government troops and militiamen from Mr Assad's Alawite sect. "They laid the men on the ground. Their hands were tied behind their backs, and their faces pressed to the floor," said Abu Abdo. "The soldiers began jumping and dancing across the bodies of the alive men, and hitting them on their backs with their rifle butts." As they beat their victims, the militiamen, known as the "Shabiha", were laughing and jeering. Abu Abdo's cousin remembered them saying: "Do you think you will get your freedom now oh terrorist?" After tormenting their captives, the soldiers and militiamen began executing them. "They used bayonets on the ends of their guns to stab the men in the back. One grabbed a prisoner by the hair and slit his throat," said Abu Abdo. Four men were killed in this way. But the frenzied brutality became too much for one of the militiamen. "He grabbed the shoulder of the others, and told them to stop," said Abu Abdo. The man is believed to have said: "If we are going to kill them, then let's shoot them." The men retreated and Abu Abdo's cousin was able to escape. http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/Syria 4 hours 39 min agoSyrians who fled the government's bombardments of Homs to neighbouring Lebanon told reporters about their plight. "We fled the shelling and the strikes,'' said Hassana Abu Firas. She came with two families who had fled government shelling of their town al-Qusair. "What are we supposed to do? People are sitting in their homes and they are hitting us with tanks," Firas told The Associated Press. "Those who can flee, do. Those who can't will die sitting down." Lebanese security officials say more than 10,000 Syrian refugees are believed to be in the country. One official said as many as 3,000 are believed to have crossed in recent days to escape violence in Homs, though it is unclear how many have returned to Syria. I'm not sure if this takes into account the many Syrians who are hiding in people's homes in Lebanon and afraid to anounce their refugee status out of fear of being hunted down or sent back. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/03/amanpour-mccains-call-to-arms-in-syria-has-echoes-of-bosnia-genocide/#.T1XOBOS6ezU.twitter Amanpour: McCain’s Call to Arms in Syria Has Echoes of Bosnia Genocide “We share his concern and outrage about what’s taking place,” a senior administration official tells ABC’s Jake Tapper. “We’re also concerned that further military intervention will accelerate the conflict on the ground and worsen the humanitarian situation without stopping the violence the Syrian regime is committing against its own people.”The official says the United States “wants to keep putting pressure on the Assad regime.” But McCain and a growing chorus of U.S. allies are saying the pressure is just not working. McCain even raised the specter of the slaughter in Sarajevo and across Bosnia in the 1990s, and compared the situation in Syria today to the war crimes committed by Slobodan Milosevic’s regime in the Balkans. I was there and I covered that war. Twenty years ago, the powers that be said the same in Bosnia, finding every which way, and every tortured rhetorical device (including refusing to use the word genocide) to avoid intervening. As we all know, tens of thousands of deaths later — including at Srebrenica, the worst massacre in Europe since World War Two — the U.S. finally intervened with NATO allies, ended the war and launched the peace that holds to this day. Of course Syria is not Bosnia, nor is it Libya, they are different countries, but just like in those countries, in Syria today a heavily armed military is besieging and slaughtering ordinary civilians, and outgunned rebels too. Just like in Bosnia, the Syrian rebels/opposition have been denied the right to self defense, for fear of “accelerating the conflict on the ground and making it worse”.... https://twitter.com/#!/ArabSpringFF The draft UNSC resolution on Syria is weak and will not change anything: http://un-report.blogspot.com/2012/03/american-draft-resolution-on-syria.html?spref=tw6:41 PM Tuesday in Mazzeh will be the funeral of the martyr Muhannad al Mulah, who was executed for refusing to fire on civilians in Homs. 6:54 PM God bless your soul Muhannad. You are one of the hundreds that were executed by the regime for refusing to kill innocent people. 7:07 PM US Un draft resolution on Syria, which has yet to be officially circulated http://un-report.blogspot.com/2012/03/american-draft-resolution-on-syria.html?spref=tw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/06/world/meast/syria-unrest/index.html?hpt=hp_t2 Opposition: 14 killed in Syria as regime attacks escape route to LebanonAt least 14 people were killed in Syria Tuesday as government forces took aim at citizens across the country, opposition activists said. The deaths include five people in Hama and three in the opposition stronghold of Homs, said the opposition Syrian Network for Human Rights. Also in Homs, the Syrian military targeted a bridge on the Orontes River near the Lebanese border used as a crossing by wounded Syrian civilians, dissidents and refugees fleeing to Lebanon, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, another opposition activist group. On Monday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov posted a message on his Twitter page saying the latest version of a draft resolution doesn't pass his muster."New US draft of the UNSC resolution on Syria is a slightly modified version of the last vetoed document. It should be substantially balanced," the message said. By which he means 'lay equal blame on the regime and the opposition.' While officials in the West and elsewhere discussed the crisis from afar, more carnage mounted across Syria.At least 26 people died Monday from violence such as shellings, sniper fire or indiscriminate gunfire, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/Syria 3 hours 53 min agoTurkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on neighbouring Syria on Tuesday to allow the immediate opening of humanitarian aid corridors. "Humanitarian aid corridors must immediately be opened," Erdogan told a parliamentary meeting of his AKP party, urging the international community to put pressure on Damascus to allow the delivery of relief supplies to civilians. :ols::ols: I'm sure Bashar will get right on that. This is just ridiculous. Erdogan: "Open up a humanitarian aid corridor!" Assad: "Um....no." ERdogan: "****, I thought he was going to say 'yes'. Should I ask again?" 56 min 16 sec agoFrance is to close its Damascus embassy on Tuesday, the foreign ministry said, after President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the move to protest the Syrian regime's bloody crackdown on demonstrators. "The closure of the French embassy is planned for today," Bernard Valero, the French foreign ministry spokesman, told journalists. "Ambassador Eric Chevallier leaves today or tomorrow morning," he said, adding that discussions were underway to decide which country would represent French interests in Syria. 48 min 16 sec agoUS President Barack Obama remains committed to diplomatic efforts to end the violence in Syria, the White House said on Tuesday, despite calls from leading Republican senator John McCain for military action against the government of President Bashar al-Assad. "The President has repeatedly called for an immediate halt to the violence in Syria. Currently the administration is focused on diplomatic and political approaches rather than a military intervention," said Tommy Vietor, a White House spokesman. "Our best chance to do that and to usher in a political transition is to continue to isolate the regime, cut off key revenue streams, and push the opposition to unite itself under a clear transition plan that makes space for Syrians of all creeds and ethnicities," he said. [Reuters] Yeah, ok. 8 min 32 sec ago At least six people were killed, including a young girl, as Syrian forces on Tuesday launched a major assault on Herak, a town in the southern province of Daraa, a monitoring group said. The girl was shot dead by a sniper, while at least five soldiers were killed in clashes with members of the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA), the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says. "Large military forces, including tanks and armoured troop carriers, launched an assault on Herak. Explosions and heavy machinegun fire were heard," the Britain-based monitoring group added, citing residents. The Local Coordination Committees, a network of activists on the ground, denounced the heavy shelling of Herak, which it said targeted houses and mosques, as well as a search operation that saw troops burn homes, loot and carry out arrests. Elsewhere, "tanks and troop carriers besieged the locality of Tibet al-Imam," in central Hama province, the LCC said. In Maaret al-Numan, a town in the northwestern province of Idlib, a 23-year-old man was shot dead by sniper fire, according to the Observatory. Security forces also killed two others in Idlib. Heavy gunfire right now live in Han Shaikhoun, Idlib http://bambuser.com/v/2428527 https://twitter.com/#!/ArabSpringFF Omar Al-Mukhtar brigade of the FSA formed in Homs to honor him and Libyan revolutionaries. 9:46 AM Brigadier General defects in Rastan and joins the FSA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPG44s3oLMY&feature=youtu.be 9:56 AM https://twitter.com/#!/Samsomhoms I just told @guardian about the situation here in Homs city Syria check it up http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2012/mar/06/syria-atrocities-recalled-live#block-910:09 AM Northeast region of Homs (Bayyada, Khaldiyeh Hamadiya) + many parts of Old City completely controlled by FSA 10:45 AM Qusair TalKalakh & Rastan not getting attnb/c no media center, cant get word out, situation as bad as main city of Homs 10:47 AM We have confirmed attacks of reprisal in BabaAmr , however regime has eased up on Inshaat of Homs 10:56 AM The ICRC has been in Insha'at for a day or two now, although the northern half of it was mostly cleared and trashed by Assad's forces during the early parts of the siege on Bab Amr. https://twitter.com/#!/SeekerSK Daraa: Hirak: Martyrdom of Wesam Muhammad Talal Al Zoubi 15 y/o by gunfire of sec forces RIP11:24 AM Daraa: Sowra:Martyrdom of Ismail Shawamra due to shell that fell on his home in the village by regime army in Alma military battalion 11:26 AM Daraa: Hirak: Ibrahim Awad Masri and osns Ragheb, Ramez, and Muhammad were all martyred while the mother was wounded 11:27 AM Daraa: Hirak: when sec forces opened fire on them as they tried to escape their house which was being bombed 11:27 AM https://twitter.com/#!/MouhanadSYR Now: Assad air force flying over Rastan. This is a sign of near invasion. Homs11:24 AM They probably want to kill the brigadier general who defected. https://twitter.com/#!/AP House Speaker John Boehner nixes John McCain's call for U.S. air strikes against Syria, says proposal premature: http://apne.ws/yOkM8c -CJ11:18 AM We should have some of the reporters who've actually been to Syria testify before Congress. And some Syrians. Although I suppose people won't listen to them any more than to McCain.... No one really has so far. https://twitter.com/#!/Joyce_Karam The Obama administration should consider support 4 humanitarian corridors. They have lost msg on Syria, & are not offering anything tangible.11:37 AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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