What does the future hold for Syria?

Arab League sanctions for Syria

The Arab League has voted to suspend Syria from its meetings and impose sanctions against Damascus over its failure to end a government crackdown on protesters. It asked member states to withdraw their ambassadors, and urged Damascus to end violence against protesters. The vote came after Syria ignored an Arab League proposal envisaging the start of dialogue with the opposition.

But Syria's representative said the decision violated the league's charter. Youssef Ahmed told Syrian state TV said it showed the league was "serving a Western and American agenda". The Arab League proposals - accepted by the government of President Bashar al-Assad - include the release of prisoners, the withdrawal of security forces from the streets and talks between the government and opposition. But the violence has continued, with the city of Homs bearing the brunt, say human rights activists. Twelve died on Saturday.

US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report this week documenting allegations of torture and unlawful killings in the city, and called on the Arab League to step up pressure on Damascus. President Assad has sought to put down the protests since March. The UN says more than 3,500 people have died in the protests so far.

'Concern for Syria'

Eighteen Arab League member states voted at the Cairo meeting to suspend Syria, with Syria, Lebanon and Yemen voting against and Iraq abstaining. The BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo says the decision is the most that anyone could have realistically expected from the Arab League. It is a huge blow to Syria's pride, and could also be a real practical blow to its leaders, our correspondent adds. But opposition groups are already calling for more action, he says, including a no-fly zone.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim said the suspension would take effect on Wednesday, adding that talks would be held with Syrian opposition groups in three days' time. "We were criticised for taking a long time but this was out of our concern for Syria," he said, quoted by Reuters news agency. "We needed to have a majority to approve those decisions. "We are calling all Syrian opposition parties to a meeting at the Arab League headquarters to agree a unified vision for the transitional period."


BBC News - Arab League sanctions for Syria
 
The US has called on countries to decide where they stand on what it calls the Syrian regime's brutality. The White House said President Bashar al-Assad had lost control of Syria, adding "he will go".The White House said countries weighing their options at the Security Council should take into account that Mr Assad would be ousted. "The regime has lost control of the country and will eventually fall," said spokesman Jay Carney.

However, Russia has said it will block a UN resolution calling for Mr Assad to hand power to a deputy who would then form a government of national unity. Moscow said the text - proposed by the Arab League and backed by the US, the UK and France - was "not balanced" and would "leave open the possibility of intervention" in Syria's affairs. Moscow, which has maintained its ties with Damascus, has so far resisted moves for a UN resolution condemning the violence in Syria. Russia has a naval base in the country and supplies arms to Syria.

France says 10 of the 15 countries on the Security Council now support the Arab League text. A minimum of nine council members must lend their backing in order for a resolution to be put to a vote. However, Russia - as one of the five permanent council members - can veto any proposed resolution. Russia views the resolution as a first step towards regime change.

The UK has urged Moscow to reconsider its opposition. "Russia can no longer explain blocking the UN and providing cover for the regime's brutal repression," said a spokeswoman for Prime Minister David Cameron. On Monday, Russia also offered to mediate talks between the Syrian government and the opposition - a suggestion the opposition rejected out of hand.

BBC
 
Two Western journalists killed in the Syrian city of Homs

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Two Western journalists have been killed in the Syrian city of Homs when shells hit the building they were staying in, opposition activists say. France named them as Marie Colvin, an American Sunday Times reporter, and Remi Ochlik, a French photographer. Several other people were reportedly killed when the shell hit the makeshift media centre in the Baba Amr area.

Opposition-held districts have been under siege by security forces for more than two weeks, leaving hundreds dead. Activists said more than 40 people died on Tuesday, including Rami al-Sayed, a man who broadcast a live video stream from Homs used by world media. Mr Sayed was fatally wounded by shrapnel during the shelling of Baba Amr. His brother posted a video of his body in a makeshift hospital.

The Red Cross has called on the government and rebels to agree to a daily ceasefire, to allow medical supplies to reach the worst affected areas and get civilians out, but there is no sign yet of this being agreed.

more: BBC News - Journalists Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik 'die in Homs'
 
This footage, uploaded by Syrian democracy activists on May 25, 2012, depicts the aftermath of a massacre of some 51 children allegedly murdered by forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad in the town of Al-Houla in Homs. Most appear to have been stabbed; some have been shot or bludgeoned.

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[video=youtube_share;jffUNQw8Fl8]http://youtu.be/jffUNQw8Fl8[/video]
 
EMT said:
This footage, uploaded by Syrian democracy activists on May 25, 2012, depicts the aftermath of a massacre of some 51 children allegedly murdered by forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad in the town of Al-Houla in Homs. Most appear to have been stabbed; some have been shot or bludgeoned.

​
[video=youtube_share;jffUNQw8Fl8]http://youtu.be/jffUNQw8Fl8[/video]
Click to expand...


I wonder when Syria's situation will come to an end...poor innocent kids, watu hawana huruma jamani!!
 
BelindaJacob said:
I wonder when Syria's situation will come to an end...poor innocent kids, watu hawana huruma jamani!!
Click to expand...

The West wakiingilia inakuwa tabu. Wasipoingilia inakuwa tabu pia.
Tujiandae na Zanzibar pia maana watu bado hawachukulii serious yanayotokea humo.
 
Vladimir-Putin-008.jpg


Syria: Why Russia changed tack?

Russia's support for Sunday night's UN security council statementcondemning the Houla killings is the first positive news to come out of the Syrian crisis for months. It opens up the possibility, hitherto remote, that Washington and Moscow may find common cause in easing out Bashar al-Assad and defusing the rebellion against the Damascus regime.

Russian spokesmen moved quickly on Monday to suggest events in Houla, where the UN says 116 civilians including dozens of children died in a bombardment by government forces last Friday, were "murky", that regime opponents carried much of the blame for the carnage, and that Russia's opposition to regime change remained steadfast.

But there was no escaping the fact that the unanimous UN statement represented a breach in the diplomatic defences Moscow has erected around the Syrian regime. And it can be assumed with some certainty, given its importance, that Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, will have taken the decision himself.

Even as the Syrian death toll rose above 10,000, on UN figures, and Kofi Annan's peace mission floundered, Russia continued to peddle the regime line that terrorists and religious extremists were responsible for provoking the violence. Now, by agreeing with the US and Britain that Assad is in violation of international law through his resort to "outrageous use of force", Moscow has taken a both substantive and symbolic step towards backing the Syrian leader's dethronement.

Russia has been under intense diplomatic pressure to shift position, pressure that has begun to damage its wider interests in the Middle East, in relation to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states (all opposed to Assad), and bilaterally with key European powers and the US. But this is in itself does not explain Moscow's tentative lurch towards consensus.

A more likely explanation is the return to the foreign policy helm of Putin, reinstalled this month as Russia's president. Putin is no dove, no cuddly peacemaker, as he has demonstrated repeatedly in conflict zones from Chechnya to Georgia. His approach is more that of a hard-nosed, unsentimental calculator of national advantage. The most important item on Putin's international agenda is not Syria, or any of the other Arab spring uprisings, for that matter. It is his meeting next month with Barack Obama.

Syria: why Russia changed tack | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
 
[h=3]‘Those killed were loyal to Assad'[/h]Political analyst Ibrahim Alloush told RT that the way the attack was done and its timing "make it obvious" that Damascus is not responsible.

"It would not make sense for the Syrian army to commit these massacres and withdraw, and then just let the rebels come and take photos and make documentaries about them," he explained.

Alloush believes the crimes were committed "by the armed gangs supported from abroad, from the GCC countries and from the NATO specifically through Turkey."

Political analyst Ibrahim Alloush told RT those killed were actually Assad loyalists, and the timing is suspicious.

Bofya Syrian government denies involvement in Houla massacre — RT
 
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