Syria arrests hundreds, shells Deraa into submission

Syria arrests hundreds, shells Deraa into submission

Security forces arrested hundreds of pro-democracy sympathisers in cities across Syria after taking control of the city of Deraa, cradle of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's autocratic rule.

Looking for men under 40 years old, security forces broke into houses Sunday in the old quarter of Deraa, which a tank-backed force led by Assad's brother Maher shelled into submission the day before, witnesses told Reuters by telephone.

Prominent rights campaigners were also arrested in the eastern cities of Qamishli, Raqqa and in suburbs of Damascus, along with scores of ordinary Syrians active in mass protests demanding political freedoms and an end to corruption.

Syrians kept up the protests despite the arrests and violent repression that has resulted in the killing of at least 560 civilians by Assad's security forces, human rights groups say.

In the central city of Homs thousands marched chanting "downfall of the regime."

Well it's getting ugly out there.

As always my heart goes out to those who are caught in the crossfire. I wonder what type and how many "public buildings" were hit during this "Shelling into submission".

Sounds pretty ominous to me.

Ribal al-Assad, the chairman of the IMAN Foundation, cousin of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, and son of Rifaat Assad, talks about the events in Syria.

the ba'ath party at work

can't say i have any sympathy myself altho i should but those people who are being suppressed and murdered are most likely leaning toward right wing islamic fascism.

don't get me wrong i have no sympathy in libya or egypt either because what will most likely grow out of the ruins be entirely worse.

i am of the opinion if you get down to the bones about it both sides will be just as bad as the other.

which is why we shouldnt get involved with syria and we should not have gotten involved in libya.

events like these are the ones that led to the creation of al queda and osama bin laden.

we can bt hope it ends in peace...
xk

Shelling into submission? That is not a new one to the Asad family. In fact, President Bashar Asad is picking up where his old man left off.

Hafez al-Assad

In February 1982, Assad ordered the Syrian army to bombard the town of Hama in order to quell a revolt by the Muslim Brotherhood. In what became known as the Hama massacre, an estimated 17,000 to 40,000 people were killed, including about 1,000 soldiers.

I suppose in the case of the father and son, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Everyone has known for quite awhile how ruthless the Asad family can be whenever their power is threatened. I suppose some sort of response will be made by the international community? I don't expect it to be anything on the scale of what is taking place in Libya. Syria is smack dab in the middle of the hornets nest.

They have saddled up with Iran, have had past involvement in Lebanon, it is close to Iraq and they could thwart the assist and advisory mission and pullout by intelligence agents crossing the border to stir up the insurgents, and they could make things difficult for Israel. Those are just some of the roadblocks to keep in mind if military intervention is considered. My guess is there will be slight and subtle condemnation and maybe sanctions. The actions of Asad puts the west into a precarious situation because of Libya. A damned if you do or damned if you don't situation. Still, I am not surprised by the tactics being used to quell the protests and civil unrest by the Asad regime.

OMG, this weekend is turning out to be a bummer lol. Those poor people getting killed. Sometimes i despise humanity. The question is, what will countries do about it. We are all stretched, involved in many conflicts and disputes, and what if we get involved. If we did, would countries like Russia, Iran and China start thinking "Hold on a minute, the western intervention in these disputes is a bit worrying".

Then there is the financial implications. For instance, the Euro is failing, growth in a lot of countries is slow, if not none existent, and can America afford to get tangled up in this as well.

The poop has hit the fan across the globe, and its gonna get worse before it gets better.

This is the way the game is played over there - unfortunately.

Muslim countries have always had strongmen and dictators; the people don't know anything else. The concept of democracy is totally alien to them, and when they "vote" they do it with something that goes BOOM.

I just hope they aren't shelling women and children into submission; THAT is what always gets my goat. You wanna fight? Fine, stand up and fight like a MAN. Don't hide behind women and children.

ETA S&F

IMO, Syria realizes that the longer this goes on, the greater the chance that the international community will come down even harder on them.

Not a good scenario for the Syrian people.

reply to post by OldCorp


Couldn't agree more but I'm still waiting for the waves of protest against the atrocities.

reply to post by SLAYER69


Let them fight each other. Let them sort their own crap out.
The sad thing is we dont seem to care anymore. We all have to deal with our own problems so its time for them to sort it out themselves. My relatives have done this in the past, that is why most ARE DEAD. So let them fight for themselves.
Its the same old same old same old thing from over in the middle east and africa. Syria, libya. Iraq, afganistan, plus yemen and the sudan, ect, ect ect, they keep stuffing it up in the name of allah. Who cares about allah. ( not me) plus we have our own live's to care for, i just dont think that we can care anymore about them over there. We have had enough of the same old crap in my books.
Let them stand up for themselves.
We cant keep sending our children into places where the men cant stand up for themselves.
This feeling guilty about these deaths has got to stop.

reply to post by meathed


What doesn't surprise me is when a empty building is hit people freak out like in the case in Libya but when a whole location is shelled into submission with indiscriminate artillery mums a word. Just goes to show that many here have agendas and could actually care less about innocent victims.

I agree we should stay the hell out of Egypt, Libya and Syria etc....

Originally posted by SLAYER69
reply to post by meathed

 

What doesn't surprise me is when a empty building is hit people freak out like in the case in Libya but when a whole location is shelled into submission with indiscriminate artillery mums a word. Just goes to show that many here have agendas and could actually care less about innocent victims.

I agree we should stay the hell out of Egypt, Libya and Syria etc....

I agree with you too SLAYER.

We choose to see what we are taught to see though,What they play for us all to watch.
The scary thing is mate, that in the powers that be eyes, well... we ain't innocent victims and we all can be sacraficed for the greater cause.
What has happened is sad. But the sad thing is that this disgusting behaviour is becoming more and more common. But it seems if the deaths can be used to manipulate us all into the next fight it will be used.
We are living in some trying times, mate.
Good luck

Keep your eyes on Syria folks....supposedly the anti-christ will come from here.

Syrian government has free reign now thanks to what happened with Osama.

Not good news for the Syrian people.

They would be wise to live to fight another day.

Originally posted by SLAYER69
reply to post by OldCorp

 

Couldn't agree more but I'm still waiting for the waves of protest against the atrocities.

Ain't gonna happen mate.
At least not until all the protos and dimitris come up with a new conspiracy theory that somehow involves the bad wolves – AKA Zionists – in this.
The name of the game is political hypocrisy and double standards.