Syria: Broken Nation

[LoveBeingAMuslimah]

"In that sense, the Syrian conflict is similar to the Holocaust, about which far more was known — both to the public and to high officials — than is generally thought. Yet whereas many Americans were incredulous at the thought that civilized Germans could contemplate the horrors they were accused of perpetrating, today the dominant reaction to stories of atrocities in Syria is not shock but indifference.

But where we seem to be regressing most of all is in our leaders’ capacity to be ashamed at failing to stop — or even attempting to stop — the carnage.

...As complicated as the Syria policy challenge may be, Obama’s posture in the face of atrocity is why Syria belongs on this year’s Yom HaShoah agenda. When the leader of the world’s indispensable nation suggests it took courage and conviction to do nothing, we all need to rethink what we mean when we repeat the vow “Never Again.”"

Syria and the Holocaust: Putting ‘Never Again’ to the test

 

[LoveBeingAMuslimah]

More Russian lies:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/697471010828914688

Yeah, hundreds of civilians just happen to randomly drop dead at the same time Russia drops its cluster munitions. Speaking of which....

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/694266911983542272

Are Russian Propagandists Manipulating Footage of Syrian Devastation to Save Assad? - The levels to which Russian propagandists will stoop to cover for the Assad regime continue to hit new lows.

Aleppo is dying, the BBC is lying - London

Syrian anchor resigns after BBC's 'biased' Syria coverage

Just unbelievable. Guess they couldn't handle the sudden increase in condemnation around the world so they tried to make people forget the hundreds of times they've targeted hospitals by blaming rebels on a recent hospital attack.

The problem? All evidence pointed to a car bomb, not a missile as state media was claiming initially. Second problem: how does a car manage to get into regime-held territory where security is tight? Why would the rebels deviate from what they have traditionally done in targeting the fighters? Targeting hospitals is the regime's/allies' MO, not the rebels'. Unfortunately, as this link states, a lot of the non-Syrian media took the government's word as the truth.

Syria Special: How Regime May Have Staged “Rebel Attack” on Aleppo Hospital…and Fooled World’s Media

 

[LoveBeingAMuslimah]

Reprehensible bombing of refugee sites by the regime/allies (particularly Russia):

Here is a video of the bombing of this refugee camp:

Refugee camp bombed by regime/allies. Again. Death toll at least at 30, some saying 70.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/728288999882801153

Link

 

[LoveBeingAMuslimah]

Reprehensible bombing of refugee sites by the regime/allies (particularly Russia):

Here is a video of the bombing of this refugee camp:

Refugee camp bombed by regime/allies. Again. Death toll at least at 30, some saying 70.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/728288999882801153

Link

Double-tap:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/728346093772214272

Bombing of Syrian refugee camp could be war crime, says UN chief

 

[LoveBeingAMuslimah]

What a colossal failure:

"The Obama administration has chosen not to spotlight what by most definitions are widespread and systematic war crimes. On occasion, it blames the Syrian Air Force for bombing hospitals and other civilian targets but rarely discusses Russian violations. It doesn’t even share with the public the rampant infractions of the cease-fire it is overseeing. That’s all classified.

....The Aleppo City Council said Sunday that 65 died at al-Quds hospital; a bakery, a medicines depot, a water facility, three mosques, ambulances, and multiple residential neighborhoods were also hit....Tajamu Fastaqim, claimed that the warplane that bombed the hospital was Russian, based on the reports of plane-spotters stationed by rebels near regime and Russian air bases.

....The U.S. attempts to work with Russia amid the ongoing offensive, however, has damaged its credibility among opposition members.

“How can the international community accept that Russia is one of the countries who monitor the cease-fire while Russia is bombing? How can the criminal become a cease-fire keeper?” Taljo asked."

America Is Silent as Aleppo Is Massacred - The Obama administration prefers not to notice that its diplomatic strategy in Syria has fallen apart.

 

[LoveBeingAMuslimah]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/728310465701543937

Link

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/729034310829912064

Link

 

[LoveBeingAMuslimah]

Aleppo cancelled Friday prayers for the first time in history since they began centuries ago on 4/29/16 due to the regime's targeting of areas where civilians congregate.

Yesterday's attack on a mosque/masjid in Binnish demonstrate why this fear is justified:

Warplanes also striking residential areas in Aleppo.

 

[LoveBeingAMuslimah]

What lowlifes:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/730819819210199041

Link

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/730809996288622592

Link

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/730830913966358528

Link

It wasn't even carrying the food that the besieged, starving Darayya population so badly needed (people were gathering to protest to the convoy that medicine does not feed empty stomachs).

 

[LoveBeingAMuslimah]

^Can't even focus on one big travesty before the next one begins:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/731121516994306048

Link

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/731116236130504704

Link

It's why they target hospitals, courts, ambulances, first responders (in double tap strikes), and possibly refugee camps. In the month of October alone, 10 hospitals were hit in Russian airstrikes.

Syrian war: Suspected Russian air strikes destroy two hospitals - despite so-called Syria 'ceasefire'
50 People Killed In Airstrikes On Hospitals In Syria Including Doctors Without Borders Facility
MSF (Doctors Without Borders) stops sharing Syria hospital locations after 'deliberate' attacks
Syria: Statement by Dr Joanne Liu, International President of Médecins Sans Frontières
'Not terrorists, just babies': Video reveals devastation caused by 'deliberate Russian air strikes' on children's hospital

The targeting of medical personnel (or hospitals) continues by the Syrian regime and its allies:

Doctor Hasan Mohammad Al Araj, Hama Free Health Manager, from Kafr Zaita city in Hama governorate, died in regime warplanes missiles fired near Al Maghara Central Hospital in Kafr Zaita city, April 13, 2016.

Destroyed #MSF-supported hospital in Aleppo was well known locally & hit by direct airstrike on Wednesday. Hospitals are #notatarget #Syria
Divided Aleppo Plunges Back Into War as Syrian Hospital Is Hit
Death Toll From Hospital Hit By Airstrike In Syria Rises To 50
The Last Senior Pediatrician In Aleppo Was Killed In An Airstrike On A Syrian Hospital
FB post about that last (senior) pediatrician in Aleppo: Last Night, My Friend, Aleppo’s Most Qualified Remaining Pediatrician, Was Killed
The last pediatrician in rebel-held Aleppo's last moments from the hospital's cctv cameras:

Syria crisis: Boy filmed weeping over brother's body after dozens of civilians killed in Aleppo

Syria war: Second medical facility bombed in Aleppo after dozens killed at Al Quds Hospital
Aleppo onslaught: New air strikes hit medical clinics

 

[LoveBeingAMuslimah]

What lowlifes:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/730819819210199041

Link

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/730809996288622592

Link

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/730830913966358528

Link

It wasn't even carrying the food that the besieged, starving Darayya population so badly needed (people were gathering to protest to the convoy that medicine does not feed empty stomachs).

According to the ICRC, it was turned away at the last checkpoint outside of Daraya. Just minutes after the convoy was sent back, the Local Council of Daraya — a committee that operates as the local government — reported that the Syrian army had shelled a group of civilians who'd gathered to receive the aid. A father and son were killed and five other civilians were injured, the council said.

...."The people are now filled with frustration and anger," he told VICE News via messaging app. "To be honest, at this point we no longer trust the international community or the UN."

More excerpts:

....Members of a crowd of people that had gathered in Daraya to receive the convoy on Thursday evening held up signs saying, "I can't eat medicine," and, "Medicine on an empty stomach doesn't help me."

....The UN later reported that regime soldiers at the last checkpoint outside of Daraya began removing medical and nutritional items for children — everything except vaccines — from the convoy.

...This isn't the first time the UN has charged the Syrian authorities with taking supplies from aid convoys. In a March 30 briefing to the Security Council, UN humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien said that more than 80,000 medical treatments, including items to treat child malnutrition and medicine for bleeding after childbirth, had been removed from such convoys in just the first three months of 2016.

...Daraya has endured round after round of atrocities. Shortly before the siege was imposed in November 2012, nearly 500 residents were killed in just two and a half days in one of the most bloody massacres of the Syrian civil war. For most of the last four years, Daraya has been pounded from the air — locals say Assad's forces dropped more than 6,800 barrel bombs between January 2014 and February 2016, when a cessation of hostilities agreement was reached between the regime and some rebels groups. Over the course of the war, what was once a city of 80,000 people has dwindled to a ghost town of 8,000.

Syrian Regime Blocks Aid Convoy and Shells Civilians Who Gathered to Receive It

 

[LoveBeingAMuslimah]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/730014770200334336

 

[MennoSota]

How do you stop Shiites and Sunnis from killing each other in the name of Allah? It has been ongoing since 900 CE. Something has to stop between the two sides.
It seems that not only Syria is broken, but Islam itself is broken.

 

[Creech]

How do you stop Shiites and Sunnis from killing each other in the name of Allah? It has been ongoing since 900 CE. Something has to stop between the two sides.
It seems that not only Syria is broken, but Islam itself is broken.

The conflict in Syria is not one of Sunni vs. Shia. It is between the forces of non-sectarianism and secularism (represented by the Syrian government) and the forces of sectarianism and radical Islamism(anti-Assad rebels and terrorists).

The Syrian government is not a Shia government, but it is composed of Sunnis, Christians, Druze, non-religious, and Shia. The rebel groups are almost uniformly radical Islamists. That should make it clear where the lines in this war are drawn.

 

[MennoSota]

The conflict in Syria is not one of Sunni vs. Shia. It is between the forces of non-sectarianism and secularism (represented by the Syrian government) and the forces of sectarianism and radical Islamism(anti-Assad rebels and terrorists).

The Syrian government is not a Shia government, but it is composed of Sunnis, Christians, Druze, non-religious, and Shia. The rebel groups are almost uniformly radical Islamists. That should make it clear where the lines in this war are drawn.

Thank you.

Where I brought in the Shiites is in the funding being provided to the Syrian government by Iraq, the dominant Shiite nation in the Middle East. Hesbollah, is funded by Shiite money, while ISIS is funded by Sunni money. The conflict between these branches of Islam go back to 900 CE and play a part in the conflict in Syria.

The Bible says that one day, Syria and Egypt will be in full relationship with Israel as all three acknowledge Yeshua as Messiah. Sadly, that day has not yet come, but I look forward to the day it becomes reality.

 

[LoveBeingAMuslimah]

The conflict in Syria is not one of Sunni vs. Shia. It is between the forces of non-sectarianism and secularism (represented by the Syrian government) and the forces of sectarianism and radical Islamism(anti-Assad rebels and terrorists).

The Syrian government is not a Shia government, but it is composed of Sunnis, Christians, Druze, non-religious, and Shia. The rebel groups are almost uniformly radical Islamists. That should make it clear where the lines in this war are drawn.

The terrorists, if you have not been paying attention, are those who have killed the vast majority of the civilian casualties documented (almost 200k or 96% of them).

The Syrian government is non-sectarian you say? Yeah, that's why they've committed at least 87.5% of the clearly sectarian massacres committed so far:

"there have been 56 major massacres displaying obvious sectarian or ethnic cleansing traits. Of these 49 were carried out by Syrian government forces or local and foreign militia allies of President Bashar al-Assad"

A Damning Indictment of Syrian President Assad’s Systematic Massacres

Their non-sectarianism is why Shi'as from all over the world are coming to fight alongside the "Syrian Arab Army" - from Iran, Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. But totally not sectarian. Definitely not. And Hezbollah and Shi'a militias are not considered "radical Islamists" or "terrorists" to you, right? The regime's non-sectarianism is why it only reserves the most powerful positions/units for the Alawites, right? The elite units are almost entirely Alawite (despite being less than 15% of the population). Their non-sectarianism is why the conscripted Sunnis are not trusted to go on offenses near rebel-held areas, right? I mean, I'm glad they're not because then I'd be worried about the state of their faith if they were fighting against other Sunnis by being on the side of the oppressor. But please spare us all the ludicrous claim that the regime is not sectarian.

As for the Druze, check my Idlib liberated thread soon. I've been meaning to post about how Druze are quite vocal against Assad (and Assad won't dare do a thing against them because then there goes his silly claim of protecting minorities that somehow has fooled many in the world).

 

[LoveBeingAMuslimah]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/734448089604468737

Good for them. Hopefully now they never agree to a ceasefire again with people who they know will never abide by them. All the ceasefire means to the regime is: "all attacks against regime and allies must stop while the regime/allies can and will bomb hospitals, mosques, people gathering to receive aid, refugee camps, busy marketplaces during the busiest part of the day, and civilians in general."

The following statement by the US is delusional/infuriating. Basically it's telling the rebels to not respond to the savagery and the many times the cessation of hostilities was broken by the regime, but instead report those violations to the UN that does squat in the face of these crimes besides some scolding which is completely ignored by Assad and allies.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/734990461899833344

A 2 week ceasefire in Syria to begin now (the 27th in Syria). Obviously no one believes this will hold but I guess Kerry has to try to make it appear as if the Obama administration is actually trying to do something about the genocide in Syria that the regime/allies are carrying out.
Five rebel spokesmen, commanders react to 'cessation of hostilities' to take effect Saturday

Amazing how the ceasefire is one-sided. The regime and allies can attack but if the rebels dare respond, then the regime/allies and the US will be against them. I'm starting to feel like I shouldn't mention the US separately and just include it among the regime's allies along with the Kurds the US backs.

Israel says Syrian government used chemical weapons during truce

Here is a link that monitors the ceasefire (hint: it has been broken many times by the regime but, according to the UN, it somehow still holds):

Syria Ceasefire Monitor

lol:
and:

 

[LoveBeingAMuslimah]

“The Arab fighters are just camouflage,” Idris said. “The SDF is the YPG, which collaborates with anyone — Assad, the Russians, the Americans — when it suits its purposes,” he added.

FSA rebel commanders accuse the YPG of coordinating with Assad government forces elsewhere in Syria, including in the northern Aleppo countryside, where in February Kurdish fighters overran Arab villages during a Russian-backed regime offensive....

....Gen. Idris questioned what the U.S. had in mind for the administration of territory seized by the YPG from IS. “Who will control the towns and villages?” he asked. “I raised this question with U.S. officials in the past when they talked about using the YPG but never got a reply. If it is the Kurds, then there will be trouble. I really don’t think the Obama administration has thought this through. Will the Kurds give up Arab towns they capture?” he said.

US General's Surprise Visit to Kurds Prompts Syrian Rebels' Fury

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/734457751506714624

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/734458486948548610

I'm starting to feel like I shouldn't mention the US separately and just include it among the regime's allies along with the Kurds the US backs.

....In short, we are where we have always been: local Sunni Arabs need to be given the ability to take control of their areas from ISIS to sustainably defeat the ‘caliphate.’ The reliance so far on Kurdish and Shiite forces in countering ISIS is more than futile: it's actively counterproductive.

Why Solely Backing the PYD Against the Islamic State is a Mistake - What a disastrous foreign policy.

“The crimes that civilians witnessed the Kurdish militias commit in neighboring villages, such as expelling them [from their homes], along with arrests, killings and pillaging, is driving them toward IS despite people’s hatred of them,” said al-Ahmad.

In battle for one corner of Al-Hasakah, 30,000 displaced move south toward Islamic State territory amidst fears of SDF

"Obama’s vision for any Syrian endgame always conceded an Iranian protectorate contiguous with Lebanon,” he said. “He has dubbed this ‘respecting Iran’s equities.’ Beyond that, however, his template for Syria is at its core a replica of the template he has applied in Iraq: a U.S.-recognized Iranian zone, which cooperates with a U.S.- and Iranian-backed Kurdish zone (in the case of Syria, unlike Iraq, this zone is entirely hostile to Turkey), and then a third, Sunni Arab, kill zone in between.”

Does Obama Want to Carve Up Syria?

What the United States Is Really Doing in Syria - Tag-teaming with Russia and dumping regional allies and NATO, the White House tells the rest of the world to go take a hike

"The Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which controls most of northern Syria is expected to declare a federal system on Wednesday, a spokesman from the group said. The announcement immediately received a rebuke from the United States."

US will not recognize PYD federal region in northern Syria

Poor, opportunistic PKK/PYD/YPG/affiliates. No one is going to let them, groups who are not representative of Kurds as a whole, have their own federal region. The rebels say no, ISIS says no, Assad says no (Russia says maybe), the US says no (will probably waver), Turkey says no.

 

[Oafman]

LBAM, I've always supported the fact that you use this thread to draw attention to specific atrocities in Syria, and to remind all of us who have become desensitised to this conflict, due to the daily horrors we've been hearing about for years now, that this brutality is continuing unabated.

But you seem to have 'missed' a wave of horrifying atrocities earlier this week:

A series of car and suicide bombings has hit two government strongholds on Syria's Mediterranean coast.

State media said at least 78 people were killed, while a monitoring group put the death toll at more than 145.

Four bombings targeted bus stations in the port city of Tartous and in Jableh, a town to the north, which have until now escaped the worst of the civil war.

#Shialivesmatter

 

[LoveBeingAMuslimah]

LBAM, I've always supported the fact that you use this thread to draw attention to specific atrocities in Syria, and to remind all of us who have become desensitised to this conflict, due to the daily horrors we've been hearing about for years now, that this brutality is continuing unabated.

But you seem to have 'missed' a wave of horrifying atrocities earlier this week:

#Shialivesmatter

You're right. I didn't post about that nor the revenge attacks against Sunni refugees in Tartous (regime loyalists shot/stabbed 7 Sunni civilians to death and set houses on fire). Nor have I posted about all of the regime airstrikes in Idlib, Aleppo, etc. that have killed dozens just in the past week or two alone. I categorically condemn intentionally targeting non-combatants, including the attacks in Tartous and Jableh.

I thought I had posted this tweet (but didn't):

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/734777198650003458

ISIS has claimed responsibility for it which is bad news for the regime (if this wasn't a staged attack by the regime) given that there are numerous checkpoints and tight security.

 

[LoveBeingAMuslimah]

4 years and 1 day ago today:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/735448136731136001

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/735453672662933504

The regime immediately blamed the rebels on its (regime's) sectarian massacre despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

I cannot embed or link to this video due to some graphic images, but search it on youtube to learn more about this mass slaughter:

People & Power - What happened in Houla?