The Syrian Civil War Thread

[stoogeofstooges]

Is Assad still threatening to use chemical weapons? An article I read in class today quoted Assad as saying something along the lines of "if I go down, chemical weapons will be released".

[motiv-8]

The LCC reports that a massacre has been committed near Aleppo, in a village near Al Safira. Here is their report:

Regime’s forces executed 72 martyrs from Malkieh village western of Sfeereh. 49 were identified while 23 martyrs remain unknown. Their bodies were burned.

Al Safira is the site of heavy fighting between the rebels and the regime. The rebel efforts there are being led by Jabhat al Nusra. The nearby chemical weapons depot is thought to be one of the largest of such facilities in the entire Middle East, and has been fiercely guarded by Assad's military.
As of now we have no pictures or videos of the incident, but we are looking. As such we have not independently confirmed the details of this story.

Rebels take the Great Mosque of Aleppo (otherwise known as the Umayyad Mosque) in the dead center of the city, cutting off the garrison of the Aleppo Citadel from the rest of the city:
http://youtu.be/p2s6vAegccw

Inside the mosque it was discovered that the government was using it as a barracks and weapons storage.

Current estimated situation in Aleppo as of yesterday. The front lines in the city are roughly where they were last summer when the rebels initially launched their offensive into the city, before the government could regroup:

[s.rwitt]

Burned the bodies? That's going to piss some people off.

What an absolutely stupid move.

[motiv-8]

This is by far not the first time. I don't recall so many at one time though.

How a single picture can be used as propaganda by both sides:

This is Dar al-Ifta (The House of Fatwa Issuance), or possibly Chiadah Corner, a historical landmark in Old Aleppo (on the map: center-right):


Now, this has been found on two different sites, one an opposition site and one a pro-Assad site. The description from the pro-Assad site "Real Syria Updates" says:

Wherever they go, FSA never forgets to add their signature, destruction & death. Old Aleppo, which was one of its main attractions was not spared FSA brand of freedom. Photo of Dar Al-iftaa in old Aleppo before & after FSA.--
- The above information were posted by real Syrian activists from Syria & around the world, not by western intelligent post offices duped activists.

The description from the pro-opposition site "The Revolting Syrian" says:

A historic building in Aleppo, Syria …. before and after Assad’s ‘reforms’.

Meanwhile, in Homs, which has been described previously by one TWC user as "calm and peaceful":

[s.rwitt]

Those earthquakes are a *****.

[Sir Pignans]

All that picture shows is that the city was the site of a major battle. Not of it's current situation.

[s.rwitt]

hahahahahhahahhahahhahahhahhahahahhahahahahhaha

[Sir Pignans]

Unless I'm getting my Syrian cities confused, Homs was supposed to have been cleared of most rebel activity, with the exception of the old city, in which the governor was apparently trying to negotiate with the rebels. So actually, Homs is supposed to relatively devoid of fighting. Unless something has changed, and in a country in which a brutal civil war is taking place. You're gonna need something more that a destroyed building to show me that the fighting has resumed.

I might as well post a picture of WW1 trench and claim that WW1 is still going on.

[s.rwitt]

Maybe if WW1 had been happening over the course of the past year or more, as reported by everyone from the Telegraph to Presstv, with articles and videos released showing WW1 fighting as recently as a few weeks ago.

[Sir Pignans]

So that's a no, you don't have confirmation then.

Could have just said that. I would like a source confirming it. I would. But if you don't have one, that's fine too. Lets just have some honesty please? As oppose to just writing 'hahaha' over and over again at my posts.

I'm interested in these events. I'm not just going to close my ears and hum loudly and pretend you haven't given me a source if you do. I'll accept it.

[motiv-8]

February 20, rebels take Qarabeed district in Homs, and find it destroyed:

http://youtu.be/6PJgyWKYCF0

Copy and paste حي القرابيص into Youtube and observe the results

Activist video uploaded February 22, Homs neighborhood not currently besieged; calm and peaceful... Under the never-ending benevolent eye of the shabiha and government tanks, of course:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDRvgInVtfE

Title is "Homs, the other face of difficult life in non-besieged districts"

[Sir Pignans]

Your two videos seem to contradict each other massively.

And the first video says in 2012 not 2013. Though it was published in 2013. This confuses me. Not only that, it says it was posted on the 19th of Feb. Before the 20th of February.

As for typing the phrase into youtube. I see a lot of destruction. No fighting. (I've had not much time to look at these videos, and I can't understand arabic, so they're speaking nonsense as far as I'm concerned, are you sure there's no written source that confirms fighting has resumed in Homs?)

[motiv-8]

Your two videos seem to contradict each other massively.

Yeah ummm no, they don't contradict each other at all. They're in different neighborhoods. The scenes don't contradict each other, they show that living in Homs today goes from bad, to extremely awful, to impossible.

And the first video says in 2012 not 2013.

Yup that's my fault. Though obviously you didn't follow my instructions via Youtube. Plenty of brand new videos showing what has happened to Homs.

As for typing the phrase into youtube. I see a lot of destruction. No fighting.

Yeah no ****. That wasn't the point. For someone that keeps claiming to only "want the sources" you sure do a lot of handwaiving and ignoring of what's going on.

Tell you what, copy-paste اشتباكات حمص into Youtube and then under filter select "this week." Then you'll see videos of fighting that is, oh my, this week.

This website is the the site of the large rebel formation which has its headquarters in Homs, the Farouq Brigades. In this post they are detailing events in the city today (the bombardment of civilians homes by 240mm mortars and a meeting conducted by officers to formulate a new military strategy for Homs after the influx of reinforcements).

Last Friday, a street protest in a besieged district:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...v=p4KFGeVnd3M#!

Another protest in another district:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...v=kGYRsXCYLdE#!

Neither of those are the Old City.

Otherwise I have absolutely no clue what point you're trying to make. That Homs is quieter than other cities in Syria right now? Duh, what a revelation. That Homs is a peaceful, quiet city now? Utter bull-****, both in terms of the facts and the reasoning behind it. The ONLY reason that Homs is in the state it's in is because the government has utterly destroyed half of it and rules the other half as a repressive police state.
Meanwhile in the countryside outside the city almost all significant towns are under rebel control, and under almost daily bombardment from land and air by the government. And in the west Hezbollah has set up shop along the border. Yayyy it's a great time to be a Homsi.

[Kanaric]

All that picture shows is that the city was the site of a major battle. Not of it's current situation.

Seriously? This is not like that this is the ruins of Cthespon. This isn't a battle of decades past, this is a modern city recently sent into ruins.

Unless I'm getting my Syrian cities confused, Homs was supposed to have been cleared of most rebel activity, with the exception of the old city, in which the governor was apparently trying to negotiate with the rebels. So actually, Homs is supposed to relatively devoid of fighting. Unless something has changed, and in a country in which a brutal civil war is taking place. You're gonna need something more that a destroyed building to show me that the fighting has resumed.

I might as well post a picture of WW1 trench and claim that WW1 is still going on.

No, instead you could post entire cities, seeing they are intact, and see that nothing is going on. Seriously? Really now? Showing some fortress and showing a recently bombed city are two entirely different things.

Maybe if WW1 had been happening over the course of the past year or more, as reported by everyone from the Telegraph to Presstv, with articles and videos released showing WW1 fighting as recently as a few weeks ago.

this

Logic and reason are being thrown out the door here. Not reasonable at all.

[Odenat]

Funny, people who accuse others of government propaganda are posting rebel youtube videos here. Please, show us some impartial sources, we are of course suspicious of those rebel videos .

About Homs, the western journalists that visited the city just 20 days ago says that the things are returning to normal. And those are well known journalists, working for the mainstream media, who are at the Homs. But, what they know? Let's all believe to those rebel videos.

Of course, there are destroyed buildings at Homs and Aleppo. Both city was peaceful 1,5 years ago and firmly supporting the government. Then, the rebels attacked those civilian cities and both side started fighting at the streets. Now, this is all the government fault, is it?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013...return-bombing

[Blaze86420]

Yes, the opposition went ahead and ruined everything by protesting peacefully and asking the government to start massacring them. How dare the defectors refuse to kill civilians?! People are actually defending themselves?! Preposterous!

And yes things are quite normal in Homs, as normal as a post-apocalyptic ruin could be I'm sure. Exactly how sturdy is your bubble Odenat, and where can I get one like it?

[Heinz Guderian]

Its amazing how things change in just a few years. The Americans were sending Assad illegally kidnapped prisoners to torture and now they want him out. I bet he's like wtfz man. I also bet he has a few secrets the Americans want kept quiet. I dont think they are gonna let him make it out of this alive.

[motiv-8]

Both city was peaceful 1,5 years ago and firmly supporting the government.

Lol, a blatant lie. 1.5 years ago Aleppo University was on fire, its students being beaten on its campus and its dorm being burned out as punishment. Homs 1.5 years ago was one of THE focal points of the revolution. I guess Baba Amr has been forgotten already.

About Homs, the western journalists that visited the city just 20 days ago says that the things are returning to normal.

Western journalists led about on a tight leash by government officials, and they never went to the besieged districts. How "normal" involves a constant military and police presence, tanks in the street, and sandbag checkpoints at almost every corner is up to you to try to explain away.

Homs is only "normal" in the sense that there are places being destroyed much worse, at this moment... When people from Damascus and its countryside are fleeing into Homs for refuge, it's not an indicator that things are good there, it's an indicator that Damascus has gotten that much worse. Which is kind of what happens when your government starts tossing rockets and shells indiscriminately into your neighborhood.

[Odenat]

Homs is only "normal" in the sense that there are places being destroyed much worse, at this moment... When people from Damascus and its countryside are fleeing into Homs for refuge, it's not an indicator that things are good there, it's an indicator that Damascus has gotten that much worse. Which is kind of what happens when your government starts tossing rockets and shells indiscriminately into your neighborhood.

You are right of course (not a sarcasm, i really mean it)

Now, let's speak why people are escaping from Damascus to Homs. Is it because the government started to toss rockets one morning because of no reason? Are they crazy lol? No, because as you yourself posted and informed us, rebels are making a big attack to central Damascus. They are attacking to a civilian residential&business area ! And the government try to defend the area by using its advanced weaponry. Now, who's responsible from this destruction? The attackers or the defenders ?

For the Aleppo, rebels attacked to the city at July 2012. Before that, for 16 months of the rebellion, the city was peaceful. Aleppo's failure to rebel spurred jokes, and no small amount of frustration, from Syrian activists: One famous protest sign lamented that the city "wouldn't rise even if it took Viagra." (http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...tle_for_aleppo)

In other news, the government started a big attack both at Damascus and Aleppo ; they are using ground forces and air bombardment to advance.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/vide...s-aleppo-video

[motiv-8]

Right, the rebels are at fault that the government decides to use rocket artillery to "defend its people."

Kinda weird how the rebels are able to take territory without destroying it first isn't it?

This kind of apologism for blatant destruction of life and property is just the worst.