Unlike the constant drumbeat of agenda-pushing from the AmeriKan media:
"Damascus, where significant protests have yet to take hold.... opposition movement has not yet made significant inroads.... A general strike called by the opposition for yesterday fizzled.... Syria protests regain momentum.... a sign of new momentum.... the resilience of the protests seemed to surprise even the activists themselves.... protests that remain relatively small but remarkably persistent "
Sort of like the readership of the Globe and the BS they shovel, 'eh?
"Syrians describe a town besieged" by May 17, 2011|Associated Press
WADI KHALED, Lebanon — Using horses and mules to carry their possessions, Syrians crossed a shallow river yesterday to reach safety in Lebanon with tales of a “catastrophic’’ scene back home: sectarian killings, gunmen carrying out execution-style slayings, and the stench of decomposing bodies in the streets.
Related: Saudis Sent Syrians Into Streets
Syria Stifling New World Order?
Certainly seems so.
The accounts are bound together by a sense of growing desperation as President Bashar al-Assad’s regime expands its crackdown on an uprising that has entered a third month with no sign of letting up.
At least 16 people — eight of them members of the same family — have been killed in recent days in Talkalakh, a town of about 70,000 that has been under siege since Thursday, witnesses and activists say.
The deaths boost a staggering toll, with more than 850 people killed nationwide since mid-March, according to the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria.
“The situation in the city is catastrophic,’’ said a 55-year-old Syrian who asked to be identified only by his first name, Ahmad. He crossed the border into Lebanon before dawn yesterday.
Residents interviewed yesterday as they crossed into Lebanon said their town, which has held weekly antigovernment rallies, came under attack by the army, security forces, and shadowy, proregime gunmen known as shabiha.
Residents recognized the shabiha by their black clothes and red arm bands — apparently worn so they can recognize each other in the confusion of an attack.
Four residents independently said shabiha gunmen killed a man named Adnan al-Kurdi along with his wife, five daughters, and a son in their home — a harrowing story that could not be independently verified. None of those interviewed knew why the family was killed. But they said the killings motivated them to leave....
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"Syrian activists call for nationwide strike; Looking to land an embarrassing blow to president" May 18, 2011|By Zeina Karam, Associated Press
BEIRUT — Syrian protesters called yesterday for a one-day nationwide general strike, urging students to skip school and workers to bring commerce to a halt in a new strategy of defiance against government crackdowns that appear to be turning more brutal and bloody.
I think there is a hint for you in there somewhere, American.
The strike, planned for today, marks a shift by opposition forces to strike at President Bashar al-Assad’s regime from new angles: its economic underpinnings and ability to keep the country running during two months of widening battles.
A sweeping popular acceptance of the strike call would be an embarrassing blow to Assad and show support for the uprising in places, such as central Damascus, where significant protests have yet to take hold and security forces have choked off the few that have taken place.
“It will be a day of punishment for the regime from the free revolutionaries … Massive protests, no schools, no universities, no stores or restaurants, and even no taxis. Nothing,’’ said a statement posted on the main Facebook page of the Syrian Revolution 2011.
The strike call came as the United States and European Union planned new sanctions against the Syrian leadership. In Washington, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told reporters that the tighter measures could be imposed in the coming days.
Meanwhile, watchdog groups and Syrians fleeing into neighboring Lebanon added to the accounts of violence....
Syrians pouring over the Lebanon border in recent days have described horrific scenes of execution-style slayings and bodies in the streets in the western town of Talkalakh....
Syria’s official news agency said eight soldiers and policemen were killed yesterday and five others were wounded while pursuing fugitives in Talkalakh and nearby areas. The report said security forces arrested several fugitives and confiscated a large amount of weapons.
Yes, the armed opposition is obscured if outright omitted. That tells you a lot about who is behind the revolt right there.
Syria’s top rights organization has said that the crackdown by Assad has killed more than 850 people since protests erupted in mid-March in the most serious threat to his family’s 40-year dynasty. Thousands of other people have been detained.
A prodemocracy activist in the central city of Homs expressed support for the nationwide strike, calling it “the only way to hurt the regime without putting people’s lives at risk.’’
I think it needs more than a day, but it is a start.
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"US turns up pressure on Syria; New sanctions leveled against top leaders" May 19, 2011|By Joby Warrick and Liz Sly, Washington Post
WASHINGTON — So far, the crackdown has failed to deter demonstrations in protest flashpoints, but the opposition movement has not yet made significant inroads....
A general strike called by the opposition for yesterday fizzled, with most shops and businesses in Damascus and Aleppo remaining open. Many were closed in places where protests have erupted, such as Homs. But in those locations, commerce had already dropped because of the violence.
The government has shown signs that it is feeling the international heat. Yesterday, Assad was quoted in the official al-Watan daily admitting mistakes by the Syrian security forces....
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"Syria continues crackdown, condemns new US sanctions; Gun battles, brutal repression ahead of Friday protests" May 20, 2011|By Zeina Karam and Elizabeth A. Kennedy, Associated Press
BEIRUT — Syrian forces kept up a relentless campaign against the country’s two-month uprising yesterday, using tanks to shell a besieged border town as President Obama called on Syria’s president to lead his country to democracy or “get out of the way.’’
President Bashar Assad has taken pains to portray confidence and a steely determination in recent days amid signs that his brutal crackdown is terrifying the population into submission....
Talkalakh, a town of some 70,000 people near the border with Lebanon, is known to be a smuggling area where many residents are armed....
One activist, who asked that his name not be used for fear of reprisals from the government, said there were heavy exchanges of fire between security forces and armed civilians.
The obscurity, omissions, and afterthoughts really get tiring, folks.
Not truly a peaceful coup attempt, is it?
Syria and its ally in Lebanon, Hezbollah, both alluded to charges that the United States is conspiring with Israel.
Oh, there is NO DOUBT in my mind about that now given the way the media has handled it.
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"Syria protests regain momentum, draw fire; At least 26 die during show of resilience" May 21, 2011|By Anthony Shadid, New York Times
BEIRUT — Thousands of Syrians took to the streets in virtually every region yesterday in what appeared to be a sign of new momentum and a potentially dangerous turn in the nine-week uprising. Activists said security forces killed at least 26 people and wounded hundreds.
The resilience of the protests seemed to surprise even the activists themselves. The message delivered at many of the demonstrations, from Damascus, the capital, to the distant east, to towns that had been the target of ferocious repression, was that the killing of hundreds and detention of thousands would not stifle opposition to four decades of authoritarian rule....
“No dialogue with tanks and soldiers,’’ went one slogan.
There were ominous signs, too, of communal strife and outbreaks of violence that are testing a government that has built its legitimacy on the promise of stability.
I suppose DESTABILIZING SYRIA so they can't help IRAN after the USraeli attack is good enough for the imperial globe-kickers.
The unrest has exacerbated sectarian tensions in a country with a Sunni Muslim majority and a mosaic of ethnic and religious minorities: Christians, Kurds, and Alawites and other heterodox Muslim sects.
I no longer buy that Zionist foil of division seeing as they have all co-existed and intermarried for centuries. My view after Iraq is that sectarianism only boils over after western intelligence agencies gain a foothold in said country.
Some of the worst unrest has erupted along the Sunni-Alawite fault lines in the cities of Baniyas, Latakia, and Homs, and there are reports, though unconfirmed, of assassinations of security personnel and sectarian bloodletting....
So the KILLING is being done by BOTH SIDES?
Then why does Zionist War Daily leave the impression its all Syrian government killing?
Opposition figures and activists warned that the stalemate between a state bent on repression and protests that remain relatively small but remarkably persistent could prove dangerous, as sectarian tensions grow and reports proliferate of some protesters resorting to arms....
Need I even comment at this point?
It's JUST LIKE IRAN in 2009!
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"Shootings push death toll in Syria above 900; Security forces fire on funeral for protesters" by Bassem Mroue, Associated Press / May 22, 2011
BEIRUT — Syrian security forces opened fire on a funeral procession for slain antigovernment protesters yesterday, pushing the number of people reported killed in a two-month uprising to more than 900 and making it one of the deadliest of the Arab Spring.
The latest bloodshed suggests that crackdowns by President Bashar Assad’s regime show no signs of easing despite international sanctions and condemnations by the United States and its allies.
Excluding Libya — where battles between Moammar Khadafy’s forces and his opponents have left possibly thousands dead since February — Syria’s death toll is now higher than any country that has been gripped by uprisings.
During Egypt’s 18-day revolt that toppled long-serving President Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11, at least 846 Egyptians died. In Tunisia — which sparked the region’s upheavals — an estimated 219 people were killed before President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali stepped down in January.
A crackdown by authorities in Yemen has left more than 150 protesters dead, opposition groups say....
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Time to get off the Boston Globe see-saw because I'm getting sick.
