You have commented 338 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian revolution comes to Damascus as rebels openly patrol the streets
2012-02-14
Most media coverage of Syria is dire, but the UK Telegraph stands out as it often does. My view is that that the situation has tipped past the point Assad and the Alawites can control and as Saudi and Gulf Arab funded weapons flow in, the end is near for them.
As night falls over the central district of Barzeh, crowds of men, women and children gather among the crumbling old city walls to shout for the downfall of the regime. Walking, silently, and swiftly down narrow alleyways, they pass men sporting balaclavas and clutching Kalashnikovs stationed at the entrances to the public square. Members of the group that likes to call itself the Free Syrian Army, they provide 'security' for the demonstrators.

For months these protests would last minutes, or be violently dispersed up by security forces. Over thirty people have been shot dead here by regime security, locals told the Daily Telegraph. But now, surrounded by their own military, the crowds are becoming ever more confident and openly defiant.

"Now we have our fighters to protect us, the regime knows this and they don't dare to come here. We are not safe but now if the regime wants to come he has to bring tanks and troops," said Asra, a Sunni Muslim pharmacist who has been calling for the demise of the regime since early April.

Drumbeats accompanied the crowd in dances and songs that have been well rehearsed over the 11 month uprising. Crowds waved the revolutionary flag, jumping up and down as they yelled passionate cries of 'death to Bashar, death to the donkey!". Men in fluorescent yellow jackets, their faces wrapped in cloth to prevent being identified in photographs worked as stewards managing the crowds. A boy no older than 12 stood on a makeshift podium leading the crowds.

The slogans, a medley of prayers of solidarity for the 'brothers' coming under relentless bombardment in other cities, cries of outrage against the regime, and calls to remember the 'martyrs' killed in the last month, showed the boiling anger that has sprung from the months of violent unrest.

"This lady's son died here, in these protests," shouted Asra above the noise of the crowds. "He shouted to the police 'why are you killing us? Please stop'. So they shot him dead."

"They killed this boys' father," she added, grabbing the shoulders of a 12-year-old with curly brown hair and deep brown eyes. "He comes here everyday to call for freedom and revenge on his father."

Most uproarious came united cries of "first we trust in God, and then in our Free Syrian Army!". The armed gunmen watched silently from the rooftops. But the innocence of the peaceful protests are giving way to a more sinister form of action. Outside of the protests, Burzeh's streets are filled with the secret informants for the opposition. Lounging on street corners, young men listen to conversations, and watch the movements of residents, intent on weeding out the "spies"; people who reveal activities of the opposition to the regime, or in some cases are passionately aligned with the President.

Activists from Barzeh admitted to the Daily Telegraph that eight people have been assassinated in area in the past few months, but the figure is likely to be higher.

Those that are not killed, are bullied into toeing the line. Shopfront covers dotted across the district have an 'X' sprayed on them. "We do that to those that don't close their shops when we call for a strike. It is a warning that they must join us," said Asra. Barzeh is not the only pocket of defiance in central Damascus. Activists say that across the capital men are secretly being armed.

"[Bashar al-Assad] kills us, we are not his people. He is a criminal," said Hana, another activist. "Before we did not want to kill anyone, we did not want to use weapons, but now we don't see any other way. Now this is war."

"They don't want us to live in freedom," said the wife of a wealthy Sunni businessman. "They think this is about money, but it is not, it is about dignity." 'They' she said, refers to the Alawites, the minority ruling sect.

Asked where their place should be in society after the regime falls, many activists shrugged their shoulders, having given it little thought. "We will be the majority," said one Sunni opposition member simply.

"All those that killed, must be killed," said another Sunni activist. Working with an organisation that promotes democracy and freedom, he had long spoke the language of peace. But after months of seeing his friends killed or beaten, or family members arrested, logic was overrun by visceral emotion.
Posted by:phil_b

#3  Days, weeks, months. Who knows?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2012-02-14 11:39  

#2  Any bets on tomorrow's headline
"x peaceful protesters killed by syrian security forces in Damascus"?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2012-02-14 10:34  

#1  Hope the Russkies, Iranian IRGC thugs, and Hezb's get all the Karma and retribution they deserve
Posted by: Frank G   2012-02-14 10:03  

00:00