Syria’s Secular Revolution Lives On
Foreign Policy
February 5, 2013
Islamist radicals may be gaining strength, but the spirit that sparked this uprising survives in the unlikeliest of places.
Islamist radicals may be gaining strength, but the spirit that sparked this uprising survives in the unlikeliest of places.
Reporters Without Borders is deeply saddened to have just learned that Ayham Mostafa Ghazzoul, a contributor to the Damascus-based Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), died under torture four days after being arrested on 5 November 2012.
Moaz al-Khatib, the head of the Syrian National Coalition, told NOW on Thursday that “the situation [in Syria] is stalling and I want to avoid bloodshed.”
The regime continues to seek opportunities to delegitimize the revolution and create a rift among Syrians. The regime will try to distract from its murderous onslaught by attempting to demonize the Syrian Revolution and creating divisions amongst the diverse religious and ethnic groups. However, Syrians have insisted on national unity, thwarting the regimes efforts and rejecting any rift or divisions.
Opposition activists, both civilian and paramilitary, adopt noms de guerre, especially when talking over the radio. Government and opposition combatants can hear each other’s radio traffic, and often spend their evenings trading accusations, insults, even jokes and political songs with the other side.
Forces loyal to the president, Bashar Al Assad, swept through a small farming village in central Syria this week, torching houses and shooting and stabbing residents in an attack that killed up to 106 people, including women and children, activists said yesterday.
Interior Minister Mohamad al-Shaar appeared on the Syrian official TV for the first time after he was severely wounded in an attack that the Syrian rebels waged at his Ministry in Damascus last month. He had cut short his treatment at a Beirut hospital and returned home for fear of being arrested by Lebanese authorities.
Hasan Abdul Azim, Coordinator –general of the National Coordination Commission (NCC) rejected in a press conference he held in Damascus any “direct dialogue or negotiations with the regime,” stressing that negotiations can only happen through the UN Envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi.
The brother of al-Qaeda chief Ayman Zawahiri has been arrested, it was revealed last night. Mohammed Zawahiri, 59, was seized by Syrian troops as he prepared to meet up with rebels in Darya, outside Damascus.
136 martyrs, including 6 women and 16 children. 42 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs; 44 in Hama, including 23 martyrs from the village of Maan and 16 from Hasraya.
Damascus will respond to any initiative that could solve Syria’s 21-month conflict through talks, its premier said on Monday, after peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi announced he had a plan to end the bloodshed.
The Building the Syrian State Current (BSSC) calls on all the local forces and international actors to do what they can to prevent an imminent humanitarian catastrophe.
One of the main questions surrounding the Syrian uprising at the beginning of 2012 was if and when an economic collapse would occur. As the year draws to a close, the question has instead become whether one can still talk of “a” Syrian economy as such.
Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime appears likely to fall within weeks, a senior minister in Iraq, whose country has avoided publicly taking sides in Syria’s conflict, told AFP on Thursday.
The Interpol will not deal with the Syrian arrest warrants against former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, al-Mustaqbal MP Oqab Saqr and Syrian opposition member Louay al-Meqdad in line with its constitution and rules, al-Mustaqbal newspaper reported on Thursday.
Five peopel were killed, 23 Injured in Three Bombings Targeting Interior Ministry Building in Damascus. Among that victims is a pro-Assad member parliament.
A car bomb exploded in a heavily populated quarter in Damascus, which has a majority of Alawi citizens and soldiers.
By the end of Sunday the LCC managed to document 234 martyrs in Syria (including 17 women and 11 children), 100 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its Suburbs (including 9 martyrs who were field-executed in Sbaina, 22 martyrs due to shelling of Yarmouk Camp and 5 martyrs due to Warplane shelling on Kafarbatna), 42 martyrs in Idlib, 31 martyrs in Daraa (including 23 martyrs due to massacre in Sad Road), 35 martyrs in Aleppo, 14 martyrs in Homs, 4 martyrs in Deir Ezzor, 4 martyrs in Hama, 3 martyrs in Lattakia and 1 martyr in Qunaitra.
The Syrian security forces arrest three peaceful activists from Rukn al Din Neighborhood in Damascus. Their whereabouts are still unknown.
“The terrorist bombingaimed at causing huge damage and casualties and increase the suffering of citizens, particularly the interests of the working class.”
