The Syria Uprising Thread

[botfly]

You are as good as bankrupt, and can't continue the policies of the last 50 years put it that way. You can prop up the debt and bubbles all you want, they'll burst eventually. They always have and always will.

 

[GenericMind]

I disagree, but this isn't really the thread to discuss that.

1 day 19 hours ago - Syria
Jordan's King Abdullah II urged Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on Sunday to reach out to protesters amid a brutal crackdown by the Syrian government that has killed at least 900 people.

His call was echoed by Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, an Egyptian presidential candidate, who called on Assad to accelerate socio-economic and political reforms, as well as provide more freedoms

1 day 10 hours ago - Syria


Families of protesters are accusing Syrian security forces of torturing their relatives in custody. An Al Jazeera exclusive shows their testimonies on the Bashar al-Assad regime's brutality against pro-democracy protesters.

1 day 6 hours ago - Syria
EU foreign ministers agreed at a meeting in Brussels to add several Syrian officials, including Assad, to a list people affected by EU travel restrictions and asset freezes, the Reuters news agecy reported EU diplomats as saying.

1 day 4 hours ago - Syria


EU foreign ministers agreed at a meeting in Brussels to add Assad and around a dozen other senior government figures to a list of those banned from travelling to the EU and subject to asset freezes.

The European Union listed 13 Syrian officials on its sanctions list, including the president's brother, Maher al-Assad, who commands Syria's Republican Guard and is the second most powerful man in Syria.

Also affected was Ali Mamlouk, head of the General Intelligence Service, and Adulfattah Qudsiyeh, who runs military intelligence.

Rami Makhlouf, a cousin of Assad, who owns Syria's largest mobile phone company, Syriatel, and several large firms in the construction and oil sectors, was also on the list.

1 day 4 hours ago - Syria


Reporting from Brussels, where the EU met to discuss renewed sanctions on Syrian officials, Al Jazeera's Nadim baba said:

"They (the EU) have actually come into line with the US now and included president Bashar al-Assad in their list of officials targeted by sanctions. This means he will now also face an asset freeze and a travel ban."

"It shows how seriously the European Union takes [Assad's] failure to accept the olive branch that they offered him," Baba added.

1 day 4 hours ago - Syria


DPA - Syrian protesters were divided on Monday over the first protest to take place in the country that was given a green light from the government since unrest began in mid-March.

The silent protest was scheduled to be held later on Monday in Damascus, where protesters will hold candles to pay tribute to those killed over the past two months.

"This is the first licensed protest to mourn the martyrs," one activist said. "We need unprecedented participation from you." However, others objected and called on Syrians not to take part and described it as a "trap."

22 hours 21 min ago - Syria
In neighbouring Lebanon, some 100 demonstrators staged a sit-in on Hamra street in Beirut on Monday against the Syrian government's violent crackdown on protesters, a Lebanese activist told Al Jazeera.

The Lebanese activists criticised the Lebanese government's lack of opposition against the Syrian regime's actions and voiced solidarity with the victims of the crackdown.

The protesters had inititally intended to launch a march, but were met by many pro-Assad Lebanese demonstrators, including members of the Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party (SSNP). Lebanese security forces separated the two sides to prevent possible clashes.

 

[GenericMind]

16 hours 46 min ago - Syria
European countries on the UN Security Council - France, Germany, Britain and Portugal - on Wednesday started circulating a draft resolution on Syria, a European diplomat said privately.

"A draft resolution is being circulated and will be the focus of discussion in coming days with the hope that it can be adopted," the diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

"It is aimed at sending a strong message to Syria in light of the bloody repression in the country," the diplomat added.

According to The Washington Post, the draft resolution condemns repression in Syria, calls for an end to violence and demands guaranteed access for humanitarian organisations.

13 hours 22 min ago - Syria
Syrian poet Adonis, who has championed democracy and secular thought in the Middle East, was awarded Germany's prestigious Goethe Prize on Wednesday.

"The selection committee considered Adonis the most important Arab poet of his generation and granted him the prize for his cosmopolitan (work) and contribution to international literature," the German government said in a statement.

It said Adonis, who calls himself "the pagan poet" will receive the 50,000 euro prize, which is awarded every three years, at a ceremony in Frankfurt, Goethe's home city, on August 28.

Adonis has refrained from openly criticising Syrian authorities during the uprising.

But he launched a scathing attack three weeks ago on all Arab rulers as "leaving behind nothing except breakdown, backwardness, retreat, bitterness and torture. They gathered power. They did not build a society. They turned their countries into a space of slogans without any cultural or human content."

He said the uprising in Syria would test whether the Arab revolution would succeed in building "human civic life" that rises above religion. Referring to fears that Arab uprisings might usher in Islamist rulers, he expressed scepticism that even "moderate Islam" would offer rights to non-Muslims.

6 hours 39 min ago - Syria
The government's violent crackdown on pro-reform demonstrators relies on the divisions within the country to maintain control. True national solidarity can be hard to come by in a country which has ethnic and religious differences. Yet despite the odds, activists say they will continue to take to the streets.

...

 

[Ravr]

The Syrian information minister is tres hot... nuff said!!! lol!!!

 

[Escher's Waterfall]

You need to get out more.

 

[beamers]

^well he is 17/18.

 

[Ravr]

You need to get out more.

You need glasses.

 

[Ravr]

^well he is 17/18.

Nice try, but you are about 10 years off8)

 

[SangerRainsford]

SOOooo, about this whole mess - any thoughts on this group of rebels/uprisers/whatever?

 

[Ravr]

^ Keep hearing some of the demonstrators are armed, and that is why the soldiers are using live ammo

 

[SangerRainsford]

I'm sure they armed. I'm referring to the 'character' of the rebellion, like what group(s)/ideology(s) make up the rebellion?

 

[Ravr]

Well, unlike Libya, Syria is not a homogeneous society. Some of these protesters want a change in regime for various reasons: Some don't like the fact Assad and the Ba'ath Party are extremely close to the Iranian regime, some don't like the fact he practices Alawite Islam and he is the president of a Sunni Islamic country, some want greater political influence etc,etc... But rest assured if the regime falls, there will be Sunnis vs Shia, vs. Christians vs. Muslims... it will be a bloody mess

 

[CFC]

prescient from genericmind, although it turned out far worse than any of those other conflicts/revolutions, save