Tens of thousands of Syrians demonstrated on August 5, the first Friday of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, amid regime crackdowns that were especially harsh in Hama, with some 13 killed there on Friday alone.
Aljazeera English reports on the Syrian government’s severe repression, especially in Hama:
AJE also reports on government’s rationale that Hama has been taken over by hooligans and terrorists. The language is identical to that used by the Ben Ali regime in Tunisia, Mubarak in Egypt, and Muammar Qaddafi in Libya. Paint dissenters as violent sabotaging thugs, they seem to think, and then you can do whatever you like to them and no one will care. What they don’t know is that revolutionary movements are watered with the blood of the martyrs…
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Juan, even The Telegraph is now admitting:
“While it is almost impossible to prove the extent of the death toll, there is growing evidence that violent elements pledging allegiance to the opposition have carried out well armed and carefully co-ordinated attacks against government troops since as long ago as April.”
link to telegraph.co.uk
Really, you should be posting casualty numbers as claims, and not be so dismissive about claims of armed opposition elements. I mean, I’ve pointed you in the direction of video evidence. I’ve given you the Crooke report. And now I’ve given you the latest from The Telegraph.
I suggest you just be upfront and admit you’re biased against supporters of the Syrian regime, in favor of opposition members which include armed elements committing lethal attacks.
I say the Assads win, unless Turkey intervenes. The masses crave strength.
The BBC reports tanks shelling Deir al-Zour:
link to bbc.co.uk
How long will the world allow governments to fire on their own people?
The presence of “armed gangs” in Syria, though hard to dismiss completely, has been incredibly overstated by supporters of the regime (especially those loyal to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran).
Even if these so called “gangs” were somehow behind all of the unrest, we need to ask ourselves if they pose a greater threat to the Syrian people than the Assad regime. No external force has harmed the Syrian people as much as the Assads – that’s a fact, and the regime must fall regardless of whether the protestors are armed or peaceful. The question shouldn’t be “are there armed elements among the opposition?”, but rather: “Does the opposition have a right to take up arms?”
I would answer yes. But even with this right intact, the majority of protests still have been peaceful.