I watched the Opposite Direction debate show on Al Jazeera Arabic, and despite the funny commentary of Faisal Qassim, it got me thinking: what on earth is still giving the pro-regime thugs the opportunity and the platform to talk and make whatever they say worthwhile?

We’re spinning our wheels. This regime had expired long ago. Sometimes it feels as if there’s nothing left to be said, everything should be obvious by now. The only reason Assad mouthpieces continue to appear and bark loudly on TV screens is because he’s so far managed to kill his way through the uprising and to stay on a chair floating over a sea of blood.

On the top of Russia, China and Iran’s unconditional support for Assad, on the top of the free world inaction or disinterest in helping the Syrians realize their dreams, on the top of tens of thousands of dead and injured and hundred of thousands of detained and displaced, on the top of this all, we have to sit through and listen to mouthpieces of the regime regurgitating nonsense that would have no weight otherwise.

It’s as if Assad had stayed in power this far winning a debate or putting a convincing case for reforms for the Syrian citizens. Make no mistake; the only reason Assad thugs still appear on TV is because there are efficient killers in this regime who had so far spared their master the fate of other dictators.

The recent two bombings in Damascus opened up wild speculations about who might have done it. The US hinted at Al Qaeda when its defense secretary said they have intelligence reports of Al Qaeda presence there. Iran said it was an American plot. The Syrian regime blamed "The Two Hamads" (Qatar Emir and PM), Al Saud, the Free Syrian Army, marine transport companies and basically all its political enemies.

US pundits are not less confused. On Friday Max Fisher, who identifies himself as "International Editor at TheAtlantic.com " tweeted: Syria looking a little less like Libya 2011 and a little more like Iraq 2004 every day. (For the record, there were 140 suicide attacks in Iraq on 2004)

What the above statement means is that no one is interested in helping the democracy movement in Syria and so they want to portray it as messy and complicated affair, and "none of our business" kind of thing.

What is ironic about the comparisons between Syria and Iraq is that some in the United State are bitter about the near failure of its attempt to force democracy from outside in Iraq so that it is hesitant to support a homegrown democracy movement in Syria.

At any rate, everyone, including politicians and pundits, find the interpretation of events that is closest to their already-held beliefs and stick with it. Why bother trying to understand the Syrian situation when you can always compare it with Iraq?

The bombing:

Since it is in our interest as Syrians to understand what is going on, I have tried to approach the incident with an open mind. Of course, while the regime is not morally beyond carrying out this atrocity (or anything else, really), Al Qaeda is also not beyond that. Al Qaeda and the Syrian regime are more alike than they both care to admit. I can't think of a better secular representation of Al Qaeda blood-thirst and indifference to human life than the Syrian regime's. Replace Al Assad in "Al Assad or we burn the country" with a god's name and you got a perfect slogan for a religious extremist organization.

They are both criminal enough to have done it.

What remains is a question of opportunity, capability and motive. I don't know what motivates Al Qaeda bombers. But I think bombing a road with civilian cars all around is quite unfeasible even by Al Qaeda standards. If they are really working against the Syrian regime (and not in cahoots with it), and if they managed to smuggle explosives into the country and move them to one of the busiest highways in the capital, why would they fall short of blowing up a building and inflict an actual damage on the regime?This aerial video of the bombing site and the location of the crater indicate that the explosives-laden car was at the right-most lane of the direction of the road leading away from the (Palestine) Security Branch. It is even closer to the residential areas than the other side of the road (which I'm assuming has the security building far beyond the partially demolished concrete wall fence).

Speaking of reminders, this bombing does indeed remind me of Iraq. But more specifically of the large scale bombings aimed at government buildings in recent years (2009 and on). It is also strongly reminiscent of the bombing that killed ex Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri and 23 other people back in 2005. Also of the huge bombing at the central of the Iraqi capital near ministry of Finance and the ministry of Foreign Affairs that killed over 100 people and injured twice as many on the 19th of August, 2009. The Iraqi ambassador to the UN accused ex-Baathist elements harbored by the Syrian regime of perpetrating the bombing. (Listen to his interview with Hardtalk,10:55 and onward). The Iraqi government even made a formal complaint to the UN and named the suspect. The Wiki page of the attack shows that the Iraqi government initially broadcast a confession by a Saddam loyalist in which he admitted to carrying out the attack. They later accused an ex-Baathist living in Damascus. Then an Iraqi intelligence agency claimed they had evidence Iran is implicated in the attack. Finally, Iraqi government said they arrested the Al Qaeda leader who masterminded it all.

What conclusion can you draw from all this? I repeat, I don't know. But I am entirely unconvinced it has anything to do with the Free Syrian Army. I don't know whether it is Al Qaeda working in cahoots with the regime or trying to stir chaos and confusion. I do know that bombs (suicide or not) are the Baath answer to crisis. I do know that the similarities with the 2005 bombing in Lebanon are many.

And we do know who did that one don't we...

While the Annan plan is flailing and floundering without a plan B (or even a clear plan A), while the Syrian regime holds a puppet show parliamentary elections soaked with the blood of nearly fifteen thousand Syrians; the Syrian uprising continues. And there are developments on the grounds that a close observer of the stagnating political process would be too jaded to notice.

A little less than a year ago, when the Hama’s Assi square was full to the brim and the Homsis had already pulled off a massive sit-in at the town’s Clock Square (the sit-in that ended up with a massacre of unknown proportions and dead bodies being raked from the ground with backhoes and dumped on army flat-bed trucks), a year ago when we thought the Syrian uprising had reached its plateau, hardly any protest went out in Aleppo.

On Fridays, a few brave souls in Salah Eddine, Saif Al Dawleh or Sha’ar neighborhoods would muster enough courage to barge out of the mosques shouting Takbeers and then managing to deliver a freedom slogan or two before being chased away by thugs with batons, sticks, and machetes.

This video, taken on the first of July 2011, shows the full force of the mercenaries equipped with white arms and not-so-concealed lethal arms, the battalions of paid thugs who managed for considerable time to stifle the uprising in Aleppo.

The picture today, I’m glad to say, is quite different. Yesterday alone (Sunday the 6^th of May), which happened to be a weekday, witnessed seven evening protests documented with videos. Varying in size and duration. The revolutionary movement in Aleppo seems to be picking up. When it comes to predicting the dynamics of mass movement, I am as informed as you. I can only rely on videos and what little information seeps through the tight net the regime constructed around the big city.

Watch this protest from Salah Eddine. There’s still a room for improvement as far as video-recording is concerned, but you can discern the size and passion of the crowd by the intensity of the chants and their echoes off the buildings:

Bustan Al Qasr:

Hanano Residences:

Al Hayderaieh:

Al Fardous:

Al Hamdanieh:

Al Hellock:

....

Aleppo was perhaps best described by Mohammad Fattouh, who tweeted last Friday: "The revolutionary movement in Aleppo is like charcoals that take long time to catch fire, but once it is lit, it can't be put down."

I know there is a propensity among fellow Syrians to mock and deride the laziness and passiveness of Aleppo this past year. All I want to say to them is: do not underestimate the energy and resources the regime has been expending, and continues to expend, to suppress Aleppo. The energy that, despite which, the Alepponian revolt continues determined and unabated towards the ultimate goal of toppling Bashar Al Assad regime.

Syrian twitter-sphere is abuzz today with the news of the hacking of Burhan Ghlaioun’s email. Burhan Ghalioun is the head of the Syrian National Council, a political body that was formed to represent the Syrian uprising abroad and inside. There has been so much criticism of the SNC and its leadership, most of it warranted. Most of it has to do with its composition and its lack of transparency.

Assad supporters are naturally jubilant about the leak. Sate’, a Syrian-Canadian who is a staunch supporter of the regime, and who identifies himself as a “vegan”, wrote:

Smoke is leaking out of Ghalioun (pipe in Arabic) in the form of hacked emails being published by the Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar. #Syria

Assuming the leaks are true and authentic, there is sensitive information in the possession of the SNC that could cause bodily harm to people inside Syria. Let’s not forget that many of the SNC’s members are also members of the coordination committees inside. These people deserve to be protected. If the hackers were aligned with the regime’s Mukhabarat (security apparatus) – and they are likely to be given what we know about the so called “Syrian Electronic Army” and its close connections with security services – then I wouldn’t expect them to reveal the identities of individuals dealing with the SNC and opposition inside. They are likely to keep them to themselves, as we know these individuals are going to be tracked down and arrested. That they’d then be tortured and probably even killed is a possibility made abundantly clear to us during the last thirteen months.

I hold Ghalioun personally responsible for the safety of these people.

On the other hand, I, and most of those who oppose the Assad dictatorial regime, am happy with the leak. Actually, we demand that leaks be formalized and institutionalized in the SNC. In other words, we demand greater transparency. What the imbeciles like Sate’ the vegan do not understand is that we will hold our representatives responsible. Unlike their position of idolization and groveling towards Bashar Al Assad, we have no idols and we do not intend to erect any statues for mortal figures. And this is why our revolution is unbeatable. The regime and its supporters have been trying desperately to reduce our uprising to mere individuals and personalities. They stupidly believe that if exaggerated the importance of Ghalioun and ‘Arour and then managed to undermine their credibility, by doing so they’d have destroyed the revolt.

They are sorely mistaken.

I've been wondering why the five advanced monitors to Syria were wearing different styles of military fatigues in this picture taken upon their arrival. Like, if these guys are coming in on the same mission, shouldn't they have a distinguishing uniform of some sort? 

There's one possibility, that each type of these fatigues is designated to a different governerate in Syria: for example, the guy on the right wears desert BDU (battle dress uniform), which means he might be deployed to Deir Ezzor and the eastern provicne. The two guys to the left are wearing woodland type BDU, which means they might be deployed to Idlib and Hama, and they might even feel at home in Homs and Daraa.

The one I could not figure out, though, is the leopard skin design (second one from the right). Maybe they plan to embed him with the lions, giraffes, ducks and all other assortments of animals we have for a regime?

Photo source.

You have probably read the "shocking" article in the Der Spiegel about the burial brigade of the Farooq battalion, one of the free Syrian army's most prominent units, which operates out of Homs in general and, up until recently, was mainly positioned in Baba Amr.

There's absolutely no argument that the story as reported in the article is very troubling on many levels. The Free Syrian Army is not the first and won't be the last rebel outfit of its kind to carry out vigilante justice, but in the case of Syrian uprising, and specifically at this juncture, it is and will be quite damaging if it's not brought under control. We have finally arrived at some sort of a vague support from a sub-group from within the Friends of Syria group which itself is a result of UN SC inaction. The Free Army is in dire need to prove itself a capable and responsible armed force, otherwise international powers will not get themselves involved (or so they claim).

I'm not going to analyze the article, to do so you'd need to re-construct the story from the news reports, first-hand accounts and videos coming out of Homs and detach fact from fiction. What I really want to point out is the way the story was written and sensationalized. On the third paragraph you are told that by carrying out his first execution, Hussein had earned a 'rite of passage', but according to who, we don't know. I do wonder what Hussein had said in Arabic that translated to "rite of passage". We don't have a literal, relevant cultural expression in Arabic. "Rite of passage" is an expression that tickles the negative stereotypes the west has of oriental or backward people, what's with all the bloody initiation rituals of African tribes and Red Indians. As I said, nothing of that translates or relates culturally to Arabic. Maybe Ulrike Putz was trying to make it easier for the reader to understand, but nonetheless, I'm quite sure Hussein has not used the term "rite of passage", more likely it was volunteered on the part of the writer.

Moving right along, Hussein justifies his role as an executioner with the following:

Most chillingly, Hussein believes that violence is simply in the nature of his society. "Children in France grow up with French, and learn to speak it perfectly," he says. "We Syrians were brought up with the language of violence. We don't speak anything else."

Regardless of where the claim that Syrians are violent by nature has come from, it needs to be countered. As someone who grow up in Syria, I can assure you that most of the violence I've heard about was centered around police stations and Mukhabarat centers. I remember once when I was a teenager my friend was panicking because he'd lost his newly-issued ID card and needed to visit the Mukhabarat (secret security and intelligence services). His panicking was not baseless, anyone visiting any security service branch for whatever reason will get slapped at least 20 times, mostly by agents passing him by in the corridor, just for the hell of it. That's the kind of violence we grew up with. Of course, there are the occasional fist fights, brawls, vengeful killing, tribal tensions, the occasional rural unrest. But nothing more than what's average elsewhere.

What worries me is that the reference to society's propensity to violence was meant to complement the stereotypical image I have detected throughout the article.

Finally, I'm just wondering how the journalist was able to meet with these fighters of the Farooq brigade. I hope there is more strenuous identifying criteria at work than just a Syrian than happens to be convalescing in a Lebanon hospital.

"Since we are the owners of a rich memory, since we are the people of history and owners of the land, we promise them that we will always remember, and most importantly we will make sure that our children remember as well. We will keep for them the photos of Gaza children with their open wounds and their blood flowing over their toys. We will tell them about the martyrs, the bereaved, the widows and the disabled, and we will teach them that 'the strong believer is better and more beloved to God than the weak believer. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, and the instigator is the unjust. What was taken by force can only be restored by force."

"We will explain to them that whoever loses the memory of the past will lose the future, and we will hang on the walls of their rooms a slogan for every Arab child coming to this life that says 'do not forget' so that the child grows up and says to them I will not forget and I will not forgive."

"I assure them that what they are doing and the war crimes they are committing will only bring them new Arab generations that are more hostile to Israel. The immunity of these new generations will further develop, and their will shall harden stronger and faster in a manner deadlier than the development and strength of the Israeli military arsenal. This means in the equation of reality that for every Arab child killed, dozens of resistance fighters are born, and this also means that they are digging graves with their own hands for their children and grandchildren.

"Today they have the option to sow what they want for the future, good or bad, but afterwards they would not have the option to determine the type of harvest. They have sown blood and will reap only blood, and when the plant ripens it will be much greater than the seed that yielded it."

Bashar Al Assad, Doha summit,16-1-2009.

I've compiled my tweets cocnerning this article in Syriacomment in one post. I don't have the time to write a detailed rebuttal, but at the same time I'd like to keep them in one place for easy refereence. 

A misleading article on Syriacomment (as usual) http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=13440 disregards the LCC (http://www.lccsyria.org/) and its underground members

 At any rate, if so-called "savvy" opposition groups "Idaf" is speaking about would like to topple the regime, no one is stopping them.

 When the regime is practically cleansing the city of Homs and committing what can only be described as genocide, you get people who (cont)

 ...who tell you that some opposition is worse than the regime. Huh? what, they fought with the Nazis? served in concentration camps?

 The real opposition on the ground is the one that was able to mobilize protests at the beginning of the uprising. #Syria

 The real opposition on the ground is the one that was able to push and maintain protests even at times of most severe crackdown.#Syria

 I repeat, no one is stopping anyone else from protesting(well,except the regime's crackdown).Those who weather the crackdown and risk(cont)

 ..and risk everything to go out and protest are the ones pushing for change and ensuring there's going to be change. #Syria

 You don't achieve transition to democracy by worrying about the impact of toppling the regime. I'm quite skeptical of everyone who does.

 Let's be clear: the only guarantee for change is to maintain pressure on the regime, the question I pose to Idaf and the likes is, how?

 How do you maintain pressure on a regime that only understands the language of force and mukhabarat torture sessions? #Syria

 ....by appealing to their conscience? by writing articles? by pleading with the president to be charitable and hand over power? #Syria

The op-ed Jonathan Steele wrote about Syria recently -Syria Needs Mediation- is just like a dish of unpleasant food, it's going to taste unpleasant no matter where you start picking at it. 

It's either that Jonathan Steele isn't aware of the chronology of events in Syria (in which case it's an egregious shortcoming on a part of a opinion purveyor), or he's deliberately spreading pro-Assad propaganda. Yes, a pro-Assad propaganda. There's no other way to describe.

First enormous error in the Steel article comes in the first paragraph:

"By suspending a country in crisis, the Arab League is giving Assad's regime fewer peaceful ways out of a dangerous corner. Syria is on the verge of civil war and the Arab League foolishly appears to have decided to egg it on."

Perhaps Jonathan Steele isn't aware of the multiple notice periods given to the Syrian regime to cease violence by various world and regional powers. At one point it was Turkey with two weeks, then Russia had thrown in another two weeks, and then a month or so ago the Arab League itself proffered another two weeks. All with vague idea about what's going to happen when the deadline is passed and expectations are not met. Now that the last in a series of meaningless notices had passed and the Arab League took action because it feels it's being ignored and some pressure must be exerted, it's being dubbed as foolish?

Steele is arguing that suspending Syria's membership at the Arab League is going to exacerbate the spectre of civil war, and that the Arab League should seek to mediate 'peace talks' instead. What Steele fails to grasp (probably because he doesn't know or didn't care to follow the news), is that exactly because efforts of mediation by the Arab League have been ignored one after the other that they felt they have no choice but to act.

For the record, it feels awful to defend the Arab League. As far as I'm concerned, what they've done so far is too late and so miniscule. They should have acted quite earlier, and they should have acted on Bahrain and Yemen too.

Regarding the civil war scenario: there's a big deceptive gap in Jonathan Steele's reasoning: he suggests that the country is slipping towards civil war because of the outside intervention (or being pushed that way), yet he forgets that during the past eight months Bashar Al Assad has been given more than just the benefit of the doubt by the international community. Russia (and China) had both helped Veto a Security Council condemnation at two occasions. The Turks had tried to intervene and then balked for some reason. Iran (the only significant factor as far as outside intervention is concerned) has been fully backing the regime, lending its expertise in repression at both technological and tactical level. The protest movement has been an orphan from day one. It had only gotten a reasonable political presentation recently with the formation of the SNC. The only "support" the protest movement received is the vigorous media coverage of Al Jazeera (in lieu of a media blackout by the regime) and, to lesser extent, the EU sanctions.

I've been saying this for months now: the country is slipping towards civil war with Bashar in power (not with him toppled). At a certain point, Bashar's staying in power will exacerbate the situation even more. We are probably already past that point. I can't offer a magic formula to avoid civil war, but all solutions should start with immediate cessation of violence on the part the regime, since that is what instigated violence and counter-violence in the first place. This step should include pulling army out of residential areas and allowing people to protest freely. This is just step one, and the regime is just not doing it. What else could you do to get the regime to respond except to exert pressure?

It was us, the supporters of the protest movement, who, months ago, were warning of civil war should regime brutal crackdown continue unabated. While on the other hand the regime and its stooges kept  saying "It's finished! it's finished! it's done! finito!!" one week after the other since March. And there is no reason now for the regime to be honest and give a straightforward assessment. Heck, we are not even sure the regime would try to avoid civil war if they figured out they're heading towards it.

Steele then argues that the three Arab countries (Lebanon, Iraq and Algeria) who voted No to Syrian regime suspension -or abstained from voting- did so because they all deeply understand the perils of civil war because they'd been through it. It hadn't occurred to him that the Iraqi government is largely influenced by Iran (who's an ally of the regime); that the current Lebanese government is just an extension of Assad influence in Lebanon; and that the Algerian junta itself is scared of what another successful democratic transformation in the Arab Spring could mean to them. Jonathan Steele (and many others, including Harding of the ICG) like to argue that the Arab League offensive against the Syrian regime is being lead by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, both monarchies that probably shouldn't lecture or offer advice on democracy or human rights. And while this point might be valid, these pundits forget that so far the most radical reactions to the Syrian regime in the Arab World have come from post-revolution Tunisia and Libya, where the Syrian missions were expelled and the SNC officially recognized.

And now we come to the most obscene part of Steele's article:

"The image of a regime shooting down unarmed protesters, which was true in March and April this year, has become out of date."

While armed elements within the uprising had emerged, it's an outrageous lie to suggest that the regime do not kill unarmed protesters anymore. Perhaps Steele hasn't seen the video of dead children lying prone on the streets of Arbeen, perhaps he hadn't seen this footage of security forces shooting at unarmed civilians just as they come out of a mosque in Qaboon. And dozens and dozens of other videos. All recent.

Steele then goes on to say that the regime had made a "mistake after mistake" in its handling of the uprising. All human beings are liable to mistakes, mind you. Mistakes happen. Killing unarmed protesters? The wounded denied medical treatment? shooting at funerals? torturing to death? demolishing homes of runaway activists?.. Mistakes!  

There are many more lies, fabrications and regime apologia in this piece: like claiming that the SNC had asked for Libya-style international intervention, or that Russia has been adopting a "wise" position on the Syrian situation. But I'm going to leave it at that.

After all, we shouldn't forget that Steele had at one point lamented that the international community is not working hard enough to solve the Libyan stale-mate. His getting it so wrong now (to say the least) is just an extension of the same old bollocks he's been spouting for so long.

العيد أضحى

 و ما أضحى بنا العيدُ

وطن به من الآلام

 تجديدُ

وطن تراقصت الكلاب على

أناته

و أسمعت صرخاته من أذناه

قرميدُ

و شبابنا في حمص يأتلقون

أغنيةً

ها هم بشهداء الأمس يختالون

أمسيةً

حمص التي من روحها

بذلت

حمص التي عصيت

على الإرغام

حمص التي كابرت

على الآلام

حمص التي صمدت

حمص التي احتار

في كبريائها

الظُلام

حمص التي بذلت

من فلذة الأكباد

حمص التي ستقوى

على الأحقاد

حمص التي لكم من رحمها

برهان

و برهاننا في مشروعه

تراها تُزهِر

الأحلام

حمص التي في صفها

حوران

حوران سهل تغنى في حبه

بلان

و ترى عزيمة أهله كصلابة

الفولاذ

و ترى من صنف بطولاتهم

إعجاز

فلا يثنيهم الجيش العرمرم عن

مقولةٍ و مجاز

و بيانٌ يرقص القلب لما به

من بلاغةٍ و إيجاز 

"الموت و لا المذلة"

فلا ترثوها يا خِلة

فحوران من أمثالها 

قِلة

الموت و لا المذلة

العيد أضحى

و ما أضحى بنا العيد

وطن به من الآمال

تجديد

وطن تسابقت الملوك إلى

إرضائه

و لانت لروعته من عيناه

بارودُ

(Al Mundassa Editor had kindly posted this poem on their website)