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The United Nations security council has unanimously condemned the Syrian government for using heavy weapons in Houla where more than 100 civilians, including dozens of children, died last week.
An emergency council meeting in New York on Sunday accused President Bashar al-Assad's forces of unleashing havoc in the town, calling the bombardment of residential areas "an outrageous use of force" which violated international law.
"The security council condemned in the strongest possible terms the killings, confirmed by United Nations observers, of dozens of men, women and children and the wounding of hundreds more … in attacks that involved a series of government artillery and tank shellings on a residential neighbourhood," the non-binding statement said.
Russia, which has resisted previous western-led condemnations of its Damascus ally, signed up to the declaration, signalling the extent of revulsion over images of infant corpses lined side by side after Friday's slaughter, one of the worst incidents in the 14-month conflict.
Britain and France had pushed for immediate condemnation but Moscow requested a briefing by General Robert Mood, the head of the unarmed UN observer mission in Syria, which took place behind closed doors at Sunday's meeting.
Moscow was prepared to chastise its Syrian ally for using heavy weapons but resisted attempts to blame pro-regime forces for point-blank shootings and stabbings which appear to have caused many of the deaths.
"It still remains unclear what happened and what triggered what," said Russia's deputy UN ambassador, Alexander Pankin. "We understand that the village … was not under the control of the government forces. We understood that there was a lot of demonstration in one of the districts of this village and allegedly firing and shelling started afterwards."
He said it was unlikely government forces would have killed civilians at point-blank range and suggested there was a third force – terrorists or external agents – seeking to trigger outside intervention.
Syria's envoy repeated official denials of responsibility and said terrorists were attempting to sow confusion.
Opposition activists said army troops shelled Houla after a protest and members of Assad's Shabbiha militia slashed, hacked and shot victims at close range during an ensuing clash with rebels.
European envoys, speaking after the council statement, insisted the evidence incriminated pro-regime forces.
Britain's UN ambassador, Mark Lyall Grant, told reporters that the council statement was "important" but not sufficient and that the council would meet again in the coming days to discuss Syria. Germany's envoy said Berlin wanted the massacre referred to the international criminal court.
The Houla bloodshed has shredded confidence in a six-week-old international peace plan. The UN put the death toll weeks ago at more than 9,000. Hundreds have been killed since.
The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, has said the perpetrators of the Houla massacre must be held to account, and she vowed greater international pressure would hound Assad from power.
Speaking before the UN council statement, Clinton accused Assad's government of ruling by "murder and fear", adding that the regime must "come to an end".
The comments came amid reports that President Barack Obama is preparing to push Russia to back the departure of Assad under a scheme modelled on the transition of power in Yemen.
According to an article in the New York Times, Obama hopes to enlist President Vladimir Putin's support over a transition of power in Syria during a meeting next month, the first between the pair since Putin's return to the Kremlin.
Under the reported plan, the international community would broker a settlement in which Assad would leave, but remnants of the political structure would remain intact.
It is seen as a variant of the scheme under which President Ali Abdullah Saleh handed over power in Yemen following widespread unrest last year.
White House officials have indicated that Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev was receptive to the scheme when he met Obama at Camp David on the sidelines of the G8 summit.
More at the linkThe United Nations security council has unanimously condemned the Syrian government... more
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Apparently the words Cease Fire no longer have the meaning they once had. Much like a "Civil War" is anything but Civil the whole concept of a Cease Fire has become like wise a contradiction in terms. Rather than an opportunity to resolve a conflict through less violent means it has become an opportunity to re-load. Perhaps the only thing that it is good for is the opportunity it gives civilians to flea the war zone if they can or dig deeper holes to hide in. Perhaps if we started calling it what it really is people might have a stronger reaction to the mindless slaughter that is going on.Apparently the words Cease Fire no longer have the meaning they once had. Much like a... more
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A massive plume of thick, black smoke billowed from the Syrian city of Homs Wednesday, punctuating the chaos that has plagued the opposition stronghold for months.
According to the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, an opposition activist group, government war planes flew over Homs and blew up an oil pipeline.
But Syrian state-run TV blamed a "terrorist group" for the assault.
Under the opaque cloud of smoke, sounds of sustained attacks -- including artillery fire and automatic machine gunfire -- echoed through the city of 1 million people, CNN's Arwa Damon reported from inside Homs Wednesday.
Opposition activists say government forces are set on flattening every neighborhood that might hold dissidents calling for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Three bodies were recovered from Idlib province; a 16-year-old student was killed by gunfire in Daraa province; and another person was killed in Aleppo, the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
And military forces stormed the city of Hama, where explosions rattled two neighborhoods, the group said. The Observatory said landlines, cell phone communication and Internet access in Hama were cut off.
While residents across Syria grappled with the turmoil, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said al-Assad has set a date of February 26 for a referendum on a draft constitution.
Members of a committee tasked with drafting the document "reiterated their keenness on a constitution that allows ... public freedoms and political plurality in a way to lay the foundation for a new stage that will enrich Syria's cultural history," SANA reported.
Al-Assad has previously said Syria planned to hold a constitutional referendum, but reports of bloodshed at the hands of his regime have only intensified since his statement.
Meanwhile, after repeated U.N. failures to formally denounce the Syrian government, the latest U.N. draft resolution condemning Syria could go for a vote in the General Assembly as early as Wednesday.
Though a General Assembly vote would not be binding, it would mark the strongest U.N. statement yet on the violence. Russia and China have vetoed attempts to condemn Syria for the crackdown by the U.N. Security Council, whose resolutions are binding.
The draft resolution calls on Syria to end human-rights violations and attacks against civilians immediately, and condemns "all violence, irrespective of where it comes from."
But any U.N. action is long overdue, say opposition activists, who reported 49 deaths across Syria on Tuesday. The dead included three Syrian soldiers who defected, the LCC said.
Deaths took place in Idlib, Homs, Daraa, Aleppo, Deir Ezzor, Hama, Damascus, the Damascus suburbs and Latakia, the group said.
Bracing for war in Syria
Child rescued from crossfire in Syria
Increased intelligence activity in Syria
UN to vote on new Syria resolution
Navi Pillay, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said Monday most of the wounded avoid going to public hospitals for fear of being arrested or tortured. Instead, they are being treated in underground hospitals where hygiene and sterilization conditions are rudimentary and medical supplies are scarce, she said.
Pillay denounced the Syrian government's "ongoing onslaught" against its citizens.
"The nature and scale of abuses committed by Syrian forces indicates that crimes against humanity are likely to have been committed since March 2011," Pillay said.
Syria posted a banner on state TV Tuesday saying its Foreign Affairs Ministry "absolutely rejects all the new allegations in the new report by the human rights high commissioner."
The Syrian regime has consistently blamed "armed terrorist groups" for the violence in Syria.
"What is happening has nothing to do with reforms, with the spread of democracy. This is the work of armed terrorist groups that are being funded from outside," said Syria's ambassador to Russia, Riad Haddad, according to Russia's RIA Novosti state news agency.
He added: "Damascus will not let international peacekeepers into the country. Syria does not need peacekeepers. Syria has categorically dismissed that option."
More at the linkA massive plume of thick, black smoke billowed from the Syrian city of Homs Wednesday,... more
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“Western politicians and media are not yet fighting World War III, but they are talking themselves into it.” What if pollsters put this question to citizens of the United States and the European Union : “Which is more important, ensuring disgruntled Islamists freedom to overthrow the secular regime in Syria, or avoiding World War Three?” ----------- I’ll bet that there might be a majority for avoiding World War III. ----------- But of course, the question is never framed like that. ------------ Who are Obama&Clinton's advisers? US&allies trying to destroy Syria&create a failed state.Whose interests do they repr?--- Media tends to depersonalize Syrians, unless they're opponents of "brutal Assad regime". Hope my images correct this. Know faces of Syrian people being targeted by militia,Al-Qaeda,Brit & Qatari forces http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/recent-news/43055-road-to-damascus-and-on-to-armageddon-know-faces-of-syrian-people-being-targeted-by-imperialists-“Western politicians and media are not yet fighting World War III, but they are... more
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worrg
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As the protests throughout the Arab world increase and Dictators try to hold on to power by any violent means possible it's amazing how people can still maintain hope. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad like many leaders before him may have not actually signed a deal with the Devil but with his actions against his own people resulting in over 6000 deaths he might just as well have. In the long run he will not prevail and history will add him to the long list of Tyrants that have tried to repress the human spirit. The challenge facing the rest of the world is how to intervene without ending up in a Third World War. With an Election Year taking top priority in the United States and a suspicion of U.S motives concerning any action in the Middle East, the actions or inaction of the Arab League and China and Russia strongly opposed to almost anything that they have no say in, the solution to the Syrian situation will most definitely be a messy one. I'm always cautiously optimistic about most things so I have to rely on what little faith I have that things will not continue to escalate until a Third World War breaks out. Even in our darkest hours we sometimes manage to prevent the worst from becoming the apocalyptic. History will tell if my optimism pays off. I HOPE....As the protests throughout the Arab world increase and Dictators try to hold on to... more
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The Gulf Arab states have today announced that they are withdrawing from the Arab League's observer mission in Syria.
The Gulf Co-operation Council also called on the UN Security Council to put new pressure on Damascus to end a violent crackdown against protests.
It came after Syria rejected an Arab League plan for President Bashar al-Assad to step down and hold elections.
Syria's foreign minister said some Arab states had joined a foreign conspiracy to destabilise the country.
Speaking after the GCC's announcement, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said "a new phase of their plan against Syria" included the West and Arab states.
He said they were supporting armed groups in Syria that were carrying out attacks and acts of sabotage.
Read more here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16698754The Gulf Arab states have today announced that they are withdrawing from the Arab... more
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The Arab League has outlined a series of reforms it wants Syria to undertake to end the violence in the country.After a meeting in Cairo, the league called on the Syrian authorities to form a national unity government to include the opposition in two months.
link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16674796The Arab League has outlined a series of reforms it wants Syria to undertake to end... more
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http://www.israelifrontline.com/2011/12/us-special-forces-mass-on-syrian-border.html
Tuesday, December 13, 2011Following similar reports by former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds, Israeli intelligence sources confirm that US Special Forces are massing in Jordan on the Syrian border having been transferred from Iraq.
On Sunday Edmonds reported that hundreds of foreign troops were witnessed near the Jordanian border village of Al-Mafraq, having moved back and forth between King Hussein Air Base of al-Mafraq and villages adjacent to the Syrian border.
After interviewing an employee in the London-based office of Royal Jordanian Airlines, Nizar Nayouf also reported that, “At least one US aircraft carrying military personnel landed in the Prince Hassan Air base located about 100 km to the east of the city of Al-Mafraq.”http://www.israelifrontline.com/2011/12/us-special-forces-mass-on-syrian-border.html... more
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HOMS, (SANA) - An armed terrorist group on Thursday opened fire on a crude oil transfer pipeline in al-Soltaniyeh area to the northwest of the Refinery of Homs, causing a huge fire. About CIA propaganda video one Sirian said - The narrator should learn how to communicate and to speak the Arabic language properly - what a clown! How much was he paid to use his thoraia line in order to broadcast his idiotic ideas. There have been excesses, but nothing at all like what is being propagated to the world - who, naively soak up whatever unverified garbage is sent their way. A vast majority of the Syrian people want evolution – not revolution ------------ read all http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/recent-news/43039-syrian-oil-pipeline-blown-up-syrian-people-want-evolution-not-revolutionHOMS, (SANA) - An armed terrorist group on Thursday opened fire on a crude oil... more
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By RUSSELL GOLDMAN | ABC News
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad defiantly denied any suggestion that he has ordered a bloody crackdown against protesters who are demanding that he resign, and claims instead that most of the people who died in the unrest were his supporters and troops.
Assad, whose regime has been condemned by the West, the Arab League and former allies, dismissed suggestions that he step down and scoffed at sanctions being imposed on Syria.
His defiant stance was on display in an exclusive interview with ABC News' Barbara Walters who confronted the Syrian dictator in Damascus with stories and evidence of civilians being tortured and killed, some of them children.
"People went from house to house. Children were arrested. I saw those pictures," Walters said to Assad.
"To be frank with you, Barbara, I don't believe you," Assad said.
Walters asked Assad about the case of Hamza al-Khateeb, a 13-year-old boy detained by Syrian forces after a protest whose lifeless body was returned to his parents shot, burned and castrated. The boy's death galvanized protesters, and photos on the internet inflamed world opinion.
Assad Tells Barbara Walters Violence Is By Terrorists, Not His Troops
Assad denied the boy had been tortured. "No, no, no. It's not news," he insisted. "I met with his father, the father of that child and he said that he wasn't tortured as he appeared in the media."
The tide of pro-democracy protests sweeping the Arab world reached Syria in mid-March and news of violent clashes between protesters and government agents have leaked out of this tightly controlled dictatorship and on to the Internet. The bodies of the dead, some of them children, have been found bearing the marks of torture.
According to a United Nations report released last week, more than 4,000 people have been killed and the country is embroiled in an undeclared civil war, an assessment Assad dismissed with the question, "Who said that the United Nations is a credible institution?"
In an unprecedented condemnation of a fellow Muslim nation, the Arab League recently threatened sanctions, and last month one-time ally Turkey called on Assad to resign the presidency, an office he's held since 2000.
In his interview with Walters, his first sit down with an American journalist since the protests began, Assad denied he ordered a crackdown and blamed the violence on criminals, religious extremists and terrorists sympathetic to al Qaeda he claims are mixed in with peaceful demonstrators.
He said the victims of the street violence were not civilians protesters battling decades of one-party rule, he insisted.
"Most of the people that have been killed are supporters of the government, not the vice versa," he said. The dead have included 1,100 soldiers and police, he said.
Assad conceded only that some members of his armed forces went too far, but claims they were punished for their actions.
"Every 'brute reaction' was by an individual, not by an institution, that's what you have to know," he said. "There is a difference between having a policy to crackdown and between having some mistakes committed by some officials. There is a big difference," said Assad.
"But you have to give the order," countered Walters.
"We don't kill our people… no government in the world kills its people, unless it's led by a crazy person," Assad said.
At another point he said, "There was no command to kill or be brutal."
More at the link/full video.
By RUSSELL GOLDMAN | ABC News
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad defiantly denied... more
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What is happening in Syria feels like one of the last gasps of the age of the military dictators. An old way of running the world is still desperately trying to cling to power, but the underlying feeling in the west is that somehow Assad's archaic and cruel military rule will inevitably collapse and Syrians will move forward into a democratic age. That may, or may not, happen, but what is extraordinary is that we have been here before. Between 1947 and 1949 an odd group of idealists and hard realists in the American government set out to intervene in Syria. Their aim was to liberate the Syrian people from a corrupt autocratic elite - and allow true democracy to flourish. They did this because they were convinced that "the Syrian people are naturally democratic" and that all that was neccessary was to get rid of the elites - and a new world of "peace and progress" would inevitably emerge. What resulted was a disaster, and the consequences of that disaster then led, through a weird series of bloody twists and turns, to the rise to power of the Assad family and the widescale repression in Syria today. I thought I would tell that story. http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/recent-news/43026-syria-bloody-travel-from-of-first-american-democratic-experiment-from-1947-2011What is happening in Syria feels like one of the last gasps of the age of the military... more
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worrg
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The Bashar regime, provides support to a number of Palestinian and Lebanese resistance groups. A longtime antagonist of Israel, Syria lifted "emergency laws" in April.The Bashar regime, provides support to a number of Palestinian and Lebanese resistance... more
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Palestinian refugees came pouring into neighboring Arab nations with the state of Israel’s creation in 1948. This mass exodus was then repeated in 1967 when Israel’s military occupied the West bank and Gaza Strip.Palestinian refugees came pouring into neighboring Arab nations with the state of... more
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Syrian security forces killed 27 anti-government protesters in several towns and cities after prayers Friday, mostly in Damascus, amid indications that opposition to President Bashar al-Assad is hardening in the capital.Syrian security forces killed 27 anti-government protesters in several towns and... more
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This afternoon, spokeswoman for Syria's Ministry of Information, Reem Haddad, stated on al-Jazeera that international claims regarding state security forces shooting Syrian citizens sounded to her like a Harry Potter story. The question was part of a telephone interview between the two parties, and we were not able to see Haddad's face, but certainly heard her shrill and strident voice, oftentimes interrupting the al-Jazeera anchor.
She confirmed that 40 of Syria's security officers had been shot, although today's released numbers are between 80 and 120 officers. Haddad described it as a 'real massacre' and further proof that terrorist groups are fanning the flames in Syria among its different sects. This was the point at which the al-Jazeera anchor picked up, and justly so, on the word 'massacre', and told Haddad that considering the death toll of over 1100 Syrian citizens thus far, that the international community would have little sympathy for those responsible of the killings.
Continue reading on Examiner.com On Syria shooting its citizens: ’it ’sounds like a Harry Potter story’ - National Foreign Policy | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/foreign-policy-in-national/on-syria-shooting-its-citizens-it-sounds-like-a-harry-potter-story#ixzz1OWOo2rZUThis afternoon, spokeswoman for Syria's Ministry of Information, Reem Haddad,... more
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It has been noted in the last six months, since that fateful day in Tunisia when a 26 year-old fruit vendor by the name of Mohammed Bouazizi set himself on fire, that each Arab country convulsed by desire for democracy has had a tipping point. Bouazizi, who later died from his burns, had become so desperate to mistreatment he received by the authorities in the city of Sidi Bouzid, that he saw no other alternative. It was as if his death catapulted Tunisia to rise 'en masse' against the government of dictator Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali and not relent until he fled the country.
In much the same way, Egyptians, which had been under the iron-clad rule of octogenarian Hosni Mubarak, reached the tipping point with the brutal beating and death of 28 year old Khaled Said at the hands of the regime's infamous secret police. Though he was killed in the summer of 2009, preparations for the overthrow of the country's dictatorship were underway and exploded in Tahrir Square on January 25, 2010 where demonstrations continued for 18 days until Mubarak ceded his throne.
In Syria, where Assad's army is no less brutal than any of the ones whose images we have seen on our TV screens, YouTube videos, and daily reports of the violence come with regularity on Facebook, the straw that broke the camel's back came by way of the torture, mutilation and murder of a 13-year old boy named Hamza Ali Al Khateeb. Within hours, a couple of videos about the murder appeared on YouTube with a warning that the subject matter was violent. Women's Lens published an article on the subject and included the video for all to see. Hamza quickly became the 'face' of the Syrian revolution.
Continue reading on Examiner.com Will Hamza Ali Al Khateeb become Syria’s Khaled Said and bring down Assad? - National Foreign Policy | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/foreign-policy-in-national/will-hamza-ali-al-khateeb-become-syria-s-khaled-said-and-bring-down-assad#ixzz1OAFHUGs5It has been noted in the last six months, since that fateful day in Tunisia when a 26... more
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Syrian police early Tuesday reportedly opened fire on thousands of protesters who’d occupied a key square in the Syrian city of HomsSyrian police early Tuesday reportedly opened fire on thousands of protesters... more
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They laughed when he laughed.
Their hearts raced in anticipation, not over those much heralded reforms which failed to materialise - "Weren't emergency laws abolished last week anyway?' asked one - but over the excitement and grandeur of the occasion: the packed parliament, the crowds of cheering supporters and, of course, President Bashar al-Assad himself.
"He is a very good man, he is very strong," said one of the young women, watching on the TV of a café in the wealthy Shaalan area of Damascus as Syria's president prepared to make his first speech to the nation in the wake of unprecedented protests against the 40-year rule of his family.
It had been a fortnight that had witnessed the previously unthinkable: Images of protestors in the southern city of Daraa hauling down the statue of President Assad's father Hafez, the 'eternal leader' whose 30-year rule over Syria instilled such fear that, even today, Syrians dare not speak his name.
Images, too, of Bashar's smiling portrait being torn and kicked. Blood of citizens staining the streets of a country whose rulers promise stability, above all else, but whose security forces had killed more than 60 protestors in a week.
External forces
But for the ladies who lunch in Shaalan, the call from the streets of Lattakia, Homs, Daraa, Al Tall and even parts of Damascus, for freedom, an end to oppression by Syria's security forces and for multi-party politics, was all, as their president stressed repeatedly, not a part of the country they know.
"Those problems are caused by outsiders, not Syrians. There are groups from Egypt, Iraq and America," said the teacher, a stylish woman in her late twenties, with immaculate make-up, a low cut top and diamonte jewellery. "They want to create sectarian problems, but they will not succeed because we stand together as one in Syria."
Yes, the president had for many years wanted to change the emergency law, the bedrock of the security state, which allows sweeping powers of arrest and years in secret detention on catch-all charges such as "weakening national sentiment" and "opposing the goals of the revolution."
"He wanted to from 2005," said the teacher, "but you must understand that many in Syria are not ready for the changes, we need time. As the president said, 'It's good to be quick, but not good to rush.'"
From the opening remarks of the speech and a further near dozen times, President Assad referred to the "conspiracy", "plots" and "sabotage" targeting Syria from outside, of which the protests for change which have centred in the southern city of Daraa, "a border area", were a part.
"The objective was to fragment Syria, bring down Syria as a nation to enforce an Israeli agenda," said the president, a message that resonates with his supporters.
"Now we are paying the price for supporting the resistance in Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq," said Noor, a 22-year-old student at Damascus University. "Syria has many ethnics and sects and we should protect our country form national division. We don't want another Lebanon where they use freedom of speech to fight each other."
But though he spoke much about the need to reform, with no clear timetable and no announcements of change, even government officials were left stunned by Assad's speech.
"Thousands of people contacted me - top officials, deputy ministers, sons of ambassadors – saying, 'You should expect big reform, you will be amazed'," said Ayman Abdel Nour, a former Baath party reformer, now editor-in-chief of the All4Syria news agency. "After the speech they were all shocked. No-one dared write anything back to me."
Abdel Nour said the president's original speech had been scheduled for two days earlier but a decision was made to wait until the army and security forces could pacify Lattakia and Daraa, the scene of the largest anti-regime protests.
"He received a report from the head of intelligence and the army saying 'We have finished, everything is calm and we are the winner.' He then re-wrote the original speech late into the night."
'Some changes, but not reform'
Certainly the message coming to the media from the president's office was to expect the announcement of major reforms, including lifting the state of emergency.
Just as she did in 2005, when she announced at the Baath Party conference the decision had been made to review emergency laws and the formation of political parties, Buthaina Shaaban, the president's senior advisor, told Al Jazeera English last week that the decision to lift emergency laws had been made.
CNN got the same story, from Reem Haddad, a government spokeswoman.
"The regime rules through ambiguity. It is not capable of reform, that's a simple fact of life," said Andrew Tabler, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, who spent eight years working in Syria as a journalist and is the author of an upcoming book on the country.
"Bashar has support among the minority networks surrounding the Assad family which overlap the intelligence services and the military, so this galvanises the regime against what happened in Tunisia and Egypt," said Tabler, but added it was a situation that could not last.
"Bashar does not feel he has to change. He might make some changes, but not reform. Yet the winds of change are blowing through the Arab world. Maybe these protests in Syria will not lead anywhere today but in the long term they are a problem for the regime."
In the wake of the speech, American policy makers would be re-thinking Syria policy, said Tabler, a strategy that had previously sought to break Damascus' 'resistance axis' – its alliance with Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran – through peace talks with Israel.
But with Assad tying his legitimacy as leader to his resistance against Israel through proxies, the US might now follow a path of expanding existing trade sanctions which target specific regime members, such as Rami Makhlouf, the president's cousin and gatekeeper of the Syrian economy.
Pro-regime figures in Damascus framed Syria's choices as "Bashar or chaos" and had duly welcomed the speech on behalf of the nation with "a sigh of relief" as the country once again got back to "business as usual".
'Fuel on the fire of the anti-regime protests'
But for those Syrians, young and old whose numbers are impossible yet to judge, who say they suffocate in the regime's stability, finding neither bread nor freedom, jobs nor liberty, and who have seen their friends and family gunned down for demanding the same rights as Arabs in Cairo and Tunis, the speech was anything but a return to the norm.
"He said nothing and promised nothing. We were waiting for him to end the state of emergency, set free all political prisoners and establish a law for political parties," said a young woman speaking over the phone from Daraa, the city at the centre of the uprising, which has now been sealed off to all media.
"Our people were killed in cold blood by the security forces but he didn't apologise to them or their mothers. Rather it was as if he was speaking to the Arab summit, in language from the 1960's. Next Friday we will call for a 'Friday of Martyrs'. We will keep on demonstrating until we get freedom as in other countries. Today, I am demanding reform of the regime but after next Friday I can expect the people will ask for more."
...cont. at source...They laughed when he laughed.
Their hearts raced in anticipation, not over those... more
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Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad took to the airwaves on Wednesday and addressed the Syrian people from the parliamentSyrian dictator Bashar al-Assad took to the airwaves on Wednesday and addressed the... more
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There’s one voice suddenly missing in all the tumult surrounding the Syrian protests – that of Hassan Nasrallah. The man who encouraged the “Arab people” to rebel against their corrupt leaders and wished them success, the man who gloated when his enemy Mubarak – a leader who dared detain Hezbollah activistsThere’s one voice suddenly missing in all the tumult surrounding the Syrian... more
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