Assad's Forces Massacre 104 at al Thyabeyyeh, Damascus

Assad's forces have unleashed yet another mass massacre in Syria. After Houla, Qubeir, Darayya this time it is at al Thyabeyyeh, in the Damascus suburbs.

Al-Thyabeyyeh: A new atrocious massacre committed by Al-Assad forces as 104 bodies were found, most of them for elderly, women, and children, The victims were slaughtered with knives, their bodies mutated. Further, Al-Assad forces stormed the town reinforced with tanks. There is a fear of committing new massacres against civilians in the town. (Source from Revolutionary Command Council in Damascus Suburbs, 26 September, 2012.) 

This terrible massacre proves once again the utter disregard for human life that the Assad regime has planted and nurtured among themselves. Assad must be stopped. His forces will only do this again in a futile attempt for them to remain in power for just a little longer.

The Complete Legal Documentation of the Daraya Massacre. Speaking of massacres here is a detailed account of the Darayya massacre. It includes the names of 524 of the slain. This report is from the Syrian Network for Human Rights - London, as presented by the Damascus Center for Human Rights. 

Other links:

Hand in Hand for Syria. UK based charity focused on Syria. Here is a BBC news report that mentions this NGO.

Homs Up to Date. Facebook page focusing on Homs.

The Revolting Syrian. That is revolt as in revolt against authority.

It includes an eloquent arguement for funding 

Link. Washington Post article that suggests that Hezbollah are sending fighters to prop up the Assad regime. I feel very sorry for any Hezbollah soldier fighting for Assad in Syria, if this rumor is true. They fight for a doomed cause. They are lied to and told that the Syrian people love Assad, that they are fighting 'foreigners'. 

History Repeats Itself as Tragedy. Foreign Policy article detailing a Pentagon report on the 1982 Hama Massacre.

Makeshift Arms Production in Aleppo Governorate. New York Times report analyzing the rise of makeshift arms production in Aleppo Governorate.

Insufficient Respect. A blog that devotes a lot of its time to the Syrian revolution. Includes this eloquent argument for arming the Free Syrian Army.

One real alternative is arming the FSA with modern anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, and lots of ammunition.   This will almost assure their victory.  Since there is a war going on, we may also be sure that the FSA will commit war crimes and human rights violations - just like, for instance, the Allies in World War II.

 Another real alternative is not arming the FSA.    In this case, perhaps Assad would win, and certainly the struggle will go on much longer.   Régime forces will continue to operate for months or even years.   The certainties here are that the régime will commit war crimes and human rights violations many orders of magnitude more vicious and more extensive than anything perpetrated by the FSA.   If Assad wins, repression incorporating these crimes will go on indefinitely.

There are no other real alternatives.   The FSA will never conduct itself with Ikea-level innocuousness.   The Syrian régime will never, in the heat of war, attain a level of basic humanity that it never reached in peacetime.   Neither side will ever compromise because because both sides face an enemy absolutely determined to destroy them.   And because this is a world of adults, not children, 'we' will never find allies in Syria 'we' can trust,  nor will the orgy of violence become an orgy of nonviolence.   Finally, the hand-wringing West will not suddenly be overcome with lust for empire and conquer Syria with a crusading army.  These ideas, like negotiating with Assad, can arise only within a determined effort to deny reality.

May Assad soon be overthrown so that the people of Syria will be able to live in peace again.

Mothly Death Toll Worse Than Iraq at its Worst

Syria's Shocking Death Toll. (PBS.) This chilling report notes that more Syrian civilians have been killed in August 2012 than during the height of violence in Iraq.

Syria Massacres seem to show slow, steady strategy. Report from LA Times of residents who tell their horrific accounts of the Darayya massacre.

(Warning: Contains graphic content.) Goran Tomasevic's dramatic photos of the fighting around Aleppo in Syria. Media coverage seems to have lessened but right now Syria largest city, Aleppo, is in the midst of a catastrophic battle that has been raging for nearly two months now. Here are some photos of this life and death struggle.

Syria and Obama's Five Excuses for Inaction. This column argues that President Obama is being inactive regarding the situation in Syria and rebuts various objections towards greater intervention for Syrian Revolution.

 Link. This looks interesting. Some sort of news roundup concerning Syria.

Another Post on Syria

Link. Journalist Austin Tice has been captured by the Assad regime. The Syrian Expatriates Organization calls for his immediate release.

Link. Three-fifth of Aleppo still under rebel control.

After Assad's Darayya Massacre

A few days ago I heard about the massacre in Darayya. I had heard that 300 were wickedly murdered by Assadite forces. Just a little while ago I have read actually 600 were murdered by the Assadites.

Assad will soon fall. His regime cannot survive and will fall.

Link. Robert Fisk's report of Assad's latest massacre. Says it was sparked off from a prisoner exchange which went wrong. Also talks to several persons who talk of people being killed. Responsibility for deaths mentioned is left obscure.

The Local Coordination Committees’ in Daraya response to Mr. Robert Fisk. LCC Darayya asserts that various atrocities highlighted by Fisk were actually committed by Assadites or caused by them and dismisses prisoner swap story as an "unbelievable...story" from the Assadites.

Link. FSA targeting Assadite military airports in Aleppo to cripple Assad's planes. FSA blame Assad regime for car bomb which killed 27 people in Damascus.

But the opposition Syrian National Council accused Assad’s regime of staging the bombing against its own supporters in a bid to divert attention from the killings of hundreds of people during an army assault last week on a largely Sunni Muslim suburb of the capital [Darayya].

“The regime wants to cover up for its massacres,” SNC spokesman George Sabra said, alluding to the deaths in the town of Daraya that sparked an international outcry.

“It also wants to punish residents of Jaramana -- who are of mixed religious backgrounds -- for welcoming people who were displaced from nearby towns,” Sabra told AFP by telephone.

“The regime’s fingerprints are clear,” charged Sabra, himself a Christian. “The regime does not want anyone to welcome refugees from other cities. And it wants to turn the revolution... into a bloody civil war fought along sectarian lines.”

I am somewhat skeptical of this assertion but I will say that I have heard before how the Assad regime punishes communities simply for letting in refugees from other parts of Syria. I remember hearing after Assad bombarded Baba Amr, Homs that towns which accepted refugees from there were being harassed by the Assad regime, including Christians.

Link. Abdelbaset Sieda, leader of the Syrian National Council criticizes the US government for telling France that preparing a government-in-waiting is premature. I feel compelled to agree. Good on President Hollande for trying to help the creation of a new, non-Assadite government. This is a good move.

Link. Daily Kos profile of Clay Claiborne, a dedicated blogger who has been closely following the situation in Libya and Syria. Hat tip to him for the following two links.

Syrian Support Group. An NGO based in the US dedicated to aiding the Free Syrian Army and sending money to them. The US Treasury have given the Syrian Support Group a license to raise funds for the FSA. The New York Times and Wikipedia have discussed this group.

Link. 25 minute documentary of a reporter who visited Benghazi and Misrata, Libya in August 2011 during the turmoil of the Libyan Civil War and records what he sees there. May the Libyan people's victory be soon replicated in Syria by the Syrian people.

Link. Gulf News says Iran is sending Revolutionary Guards to aid Assad's murderous repression.

Link. A dire report of the state of literally hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the fighting caused by Assad's military and thugs embarking on their murderous rampage which has shocked the world.

Bosnians Who Fled Syria Describe a Hellish War. Bosnians flee Syria and talk about it.

Dzenana Abas, 33, survived the 1992-95 siege of Sarajevo. But she said what she endured in Aleppo was "beyond belief."

May this unfathomable horror soon end for the Syrian people. May the murderer, Bashar al-Assad, and the murderous regime he now leads, be soon defeated so that the Syrian people may live in peace and love their families and friends, and work for better lives for themselves and their families in peace. May that day soon come.