Syria

Syrian state lashes out as sanctions bite

The Syrian police state is now responsible for over 4,000 deaths since the opposition movement emerged onto the streets in March. This week, the regime staged local elections — part of a sham “reform” programme — with 17,000 candidates standing for 43,000 seats. State media reported voters were “flocking” to the polls. The on-the-ground opposition inside the country called for a boycott, and turn-out seems to have been poor. On Sunday the opposition called an open-ended “Strike for Dignity” — the main effects being closure of small businesses and keeping children home from school. The strikers...

Killing continues in Syria: support the uprising!

3,500 have been killed and perhaps 20,000 detained since the Syrian opposition movement began to take to the streets in March. The vast majority have died at the hands of the disgusting Ba’athist dictatorship of Bashar Assad. However, increasingly fighting is taking place between defectors from the army and state forces. Civilians are also arming themselves. The dissident Free Syrian Army, based in Turkey, claims responsibility for an attack inside the capital, Damascus, on Sunday 20 November. At least two rocket-propelled grenades hit a Ba’ath party building which was later seen surrounded by...

An Iranian road?

Mustafa Abdel Jalil, chair of the National Transitional Council in Libya, has declared that post-Qaddafi Libya will be governed by Islamic sharia law, and so polygamy will be legalised and usury banned. In Tunisia’s Constituent Assembly elections at the end of October, the Islamist party Nahda won over 41% both of the votes and of the seats, a better result than had been predicted. An October opinion poll in Egypt (Al Masry Al Youm, 11 October) found fully 67% undecided, 10% refusing to answer, 13% opting for liberal or secular parties, and 9% for Islamist parties. (Though on Egypt’s peace...

Assad isolated as rebellion continues

Arab League leaders meeting in Cairo on 12 November suspended Syria from its meetings and urged Arab states to withdraw their ambassadors. Syria has reneged on an agreement with the League to release prisoners, withdraw the army from the streets and begin a dialogue with the opposition. In part the suspension reflects pressure on Arab leaders to act against Syria. While the Arab League met Syrian protesters chanted outside in front of “body bags” symbolising the 3,500 people killed since the pro-democracy movement erupted onto the streets in March. However the League — a largely ineffectual...

Syrian blood still running

Syrian activists were sceptical when the Arab League announced a plan agreed with Syrian officials to end the violence against the opposition. Now the League has announced a meeting in Cairo on Saturday 12 November to discuss the Syrian state’ s failure to take steps to resolve the crisis and stop the crackdown inside the country. The Turkey-based opposition group, the Syrian National Council, called on Arab and other international observers to be sent to Homs, which they describe as a “humanitarian disaster area”. Fighting in the Baba Amr neighbourhood of Homs has continued for days, with...

Syria: resistance grows

Last week Amnesty International issued a report stating that injured protesters in at least four Syrian state hospitals have been subjected to torture, including by medical staff. Injured dissidents are now refusing to be taken to hospitals, from where they can be kidnapped by police, and are turning to makeshift first-aid stations set up by the pro-democracy movement. The number killed by the state during the uprising, which began in March, is now well over 3,000. On 28 October a further 37 people were murdered by regime thugs during mass protests. The London-based Syrian Observatory for...

Syria: the regime erodes

Seven months and more than 3,000 deaths after the people of the southern city of Deraa rose against the Syrian dictatorship, the struggle continues. The amazing bravery of the Syrian people has been fuelled by contempt for the incompetent, stupid, lying regime and a strong desire for freedom. The opposition has now constituted itself into a more coherent front, the Syrian National Council (SNC), which was announced in Turkey on 3 October. The SNC is similar to the Libyan TNC and includes democrats from the Damascus Declaration for Democratic Change and the Local Coordination Committees, as...

Syria: time means lives

A Syrian activist living in the UK spoke to Ed Maltby Organisation began in March when the regime kidnapped some children in Daa’ra and refused to release them. That ignited lots of anger in Daa’ra, and that spirit went over the whole country. People responded in Damascus and all over the country, out of solidarity. But there are no real organizations, just normal people going out to express their anger. There is no ideology, people just want to revolt against the regime and the things it is doing. Every week, a focus or a slogan is decided over the internet. International media is not allowed...

Assad must go now!

The rebel victory in Libya will strengthen the resolve of the Syrian democracy protesters and weaken the Baathist dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad. Last week the increasingly isolated Syrian regime faced UN, US and European calls for Assad to step down. The UN Human Rights Council has ordered an investigation into violations carried out by the state during the five month-old uprising. The UN accuses the single-party state of killing 2200 civilians and of a shoot-to-kill policy against unarmed volunteers. The friends of the Syrian dictatorship — authoritarian Russia, one-party China and Cuba —...

"Syrian people can no longer live under this regime"

By Ali Khalaf, a Syrian activist based in the UK Syrian people that can no longer live under the regime started the movement. The political programme is to give the people of Syria freedom and dignity. The main demands of the people remains the same as it did in the beginning of the revolution; freedom and dignity for all Syrians. Due to the way the regime has reacted, they are now demanding the regime is toppled. This revolution was not started by any political party. It was purely started by and for the everyday people of Syria. Political parties independent of the Ba’ath Party have never...

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