Guest post by DaveM
The problem with creating, and sustaining a culture of resistance, martyrdom and immortality is that one day it can turn on you.
Then what do you do? Killing people doesn’t work, as others take their place. After 30 years of glorifying death how do you then get people to fear it?
8th March 1988
“All of us as individuals are evanescent. But all of us as a people are eternal.”
[sign: “Martyrdom is the (highest) value of values”]
“We speak, we say and we reiterate our eternal slogan ‘One Arab Nation’. But for whom? What do we mean by eternity? We mean the nation. We mean the masses. We don’t mean an individual. We do not even mean a generation. The eternal is the nation, and the people with their generations and the following generations. And the individual’s immortality is with his nation’s eternity and his people’s immortality.”
18th May 2011
“With the first drop of blood which fell from the bodies of our martyrs, this regime’s legitimacy fell.
– The Syrian Revolution 2011.“The People want to overthrow the regime.
“Assad’s thugs. (shabeeha)
“The Syrian Revolution against Bashar al Assad 2011.
“Friday of Freedom.
“The people want to overthrow the regime.
“20th May 2011.
“The revolution continues.”
While protests continue to increase the pressure on Assad from within Syria, the pressure from outside was increased when Barack Obama announced the imposition of sanctions directly targeting Assad and his inner circle.
Al Arabiya
“A direct and explicit call– and possibly the first from the US administration to President Assad– put him in front of two choices, with no third option, either he leads an operation of political transition or he goes.
“And according to a US official who declined to give their name Washington wasn’t content with intensifying their language towards Assad but proceeded to announce sanctions against him because of accusations of human rights violations.
“The Syrian president anticipated the American position with his announcement in front of a delegation from Damascus that the current crisis is now behind Syria, admitting that the accumulation of internal mistakes led to the outbreak of protest movements.
“The US sanctions didn’t exclude two officials from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards because of an alleged role in curbing protests opposing the Syrian regime.
“While Syrian towns ignored a call from the opposition for a general strike, the city of Homs went out en masse and adhered to a near total strike which covered most of the town’s shops. The town witnessed the death of the head its political security branch, Colonel Ibrahim Abdullah along with 4 other members of the security forces.
“As for Allepo, eyewitnesses and rights activists noted that security forces raided the university town because of demonstrations in support of Daara and arrested more than 1,000 students.
“In the south, and specifically the town of Noua in the Daraa region, activists stated that the security forces launched a wide-scale campaign of arrests on its residents while tanks were deployed and shots were fired.
“Syrian State TV broadcast a statement which said an army unit apprehended a number of fugitives and confiscated a quantity of weaponry in the Daraa and Tel Khallah regions, after a conflict which resulted in the deaths of 8 members of the security forces and army.”
Al Jazeera
“The United States observed the situation in Syria without comment hoping for a quick solution.
“These scenes finally spurred the White House into action. Syrian civilians fleeing towards Lebanon, footage of tanks on the outskirts of towns, and talk of 700 people killed and thousands of arrests. Then came the change in the American position.
“Then came the European-US meeting between the US foreign minister and the EU’s official on foreign relations. And with the continuation of the crisis President Obama decided to impose sanctions directly targeting the Syrian President himself along with his closest security aides. This contrasts with the Europeans who were previously just targeting some Syrian personalities.
“The Syrian opponents of the regime who are in America as of yet haven’t been able to form a unified front, however they’ve been in discussion with the White House and Congress, and also consider the decision to impose sanctions on Bashar al-Assad a step forward.”
Marah Baqa’i, Syrian activist: “President Obama’s decision today was advanced, even more so than the European’s. And I think that yesterday President Obama saw the pictures coming from Darra and knows full well that what’s taking place in Syria isn’t just the repression of demonstrations but it’s a full scale liquidating operation. The mass graves, that sight was shocking to humanity in general and also to America and they won’t accept these scenes happening again.”
“As for the American observers who are well versed on the complexities of the Syrian situation, they’re now reading a marked change in US policy towards Syria. Some of them even think that Washington isn’t opposed to [regime] change.”
David Schenker, political analyst: “Traditionally Washington has been tolerant of Assad, but I think its new position represents a shift in its policy towards him.”
“In the US street they’re not that concerned with sanctions but what is important is that America doesn’t interfere militarily.”
Man in street: “It will cost a lot of money and and involve us in a futile war, Syrians won’t ever change.”
Woman in street: “I support the taking of some sanctions but they must initially be light sanctions.”
“The US president surprised everybody today with his decision of sanctions against the Syrian regime. The American message is that now the ball is personally in Assad’s court. And according to the Syrian opposition here in Washington the countdown regarding the Syrian regime has truly begun.”
Al Jazeera English broadcast footage of what appears to be a mass grave in Daraa:
And to top it all this was Syrian TV station Addounia’s bizarre response to events:
It’s as if after blaming Israelis, Palestinians, Lebanese, Iraqis, and Salafis, Syrian TV has now run out of lies and has simply resorted to going “nah-nah-na-nah-nah!.”
This regime can’t have much time left. It appears that it’s gone passed the tipping point.
The Russian and Chinese governments didn’t oppose a No Fly Zone over Libya despite their protests, they merely abstained. So it’s unlikely that they’ll bail out Assad, despite the ties between the countries.
The question is how bloody is it going to get in the Last Castle of Arab Dignity?
How many Syrians are the Assads prepared to kill?
What if they’re no longer scared? What then?
