Real Freedom Fighters in Syria

Discussion in 'Latest US & World News' started by SyrianGirl1982, Aug 7, 2013.

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  1. Tommy Palven

    Tommy Palven Active Member Past Donor

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    I think that all authoritarian governments should be overturned, preferably by means of peaceful tax revolts, including the governments of Bashar Assad and Barack Obama, but Patrick Buchanan had this interesting comment in a piece at LewRockwell.com this morning:

    "If the Assad family is irredeemably wicked, why did George H.W. Bush enlist Hafez Assad in his war to liberate Kuwait in 1991, a war to which Damascus contributed 4,000 troops?"
     
  2. Abu Sina

    Abu Sina New Member

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    Putin Laughs At Saudi Offer To Betray Syria In Exchange For "Huge" Arms Deal


    One of the more surprising news to hit the tape yesterday was that Saudi Arabia, exasperated and desperate by Russia's relentless support of the Syrian regime and refusal to abandon the Syrian army thus facilitating the Qatari plan to pass its natgas pipeline to Europe under Syria, had quietly approached Putin with a proposal for a huge arms deal and a pledge to boost Russian influence in the Arab world if only Putin would abandon Syria's Assad.

    It will hardly come as a surprise to anyone that in the aftermath of yesterday's dilettante mistake by Obama which alienated Putin from the western world (and its subservient states such as Saudi Arabia of course), has just said no. It will certainly come as no surprise because as we explained previously, the biggest loser from Russia abandoning Syria (something we predicted would never happen) would be none other than Russia's most important company - Gazprom - which would lose its energy grip over Europe as Qatar replaced it as a nat gas vendor.

    What is shocking in all of this is that Saudi Arabia was so stupid and/or naive to believe that Putin would voluntarily cede geopolitical control over the insolvent Eurozone, where he has more influence according to some than even the ECB, or Bernanke. Especially in the winter.

    From AFP:

    On July 31, President Vladimir Putin, a strong backer of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, met Saudi Arabia's influential intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan, after which both Moscow and Riyadh kept a lid on the substance of the talks.

    "Every two years, Bandar bin Sultan meets his Russian counterparts, but this time, he wanted to meet the head of state," said a European diplomat who shuttles between Beirut and Damascus.



    "During the meeting at the Kremlin, the Saudi official explained to his interlocutor that Riyadh is ready to help Moscow play a bigger role in the Middle East at a time when the United States is disengaging from the region."




    Bandar proposed that Saudi Arabia buy $15 billion (11 billion euros) of weapons from Russia and invest "considerably in the country," the source said.

    This is where it gets funny:

    The Saudi prince also reassured Putin that "whatever regime comes after" Assad, it will be "completely" in the Saudis' hands and will not sign any agreement allowing any Gulf country to transport its gas across Syria to Europe and compete with Russian gas exports, the diplomat said.

    Right. Of course, if Saudi is found to have lied about this tiny factoid, it will be none other than the US who would step in and defend its brand new "allies" in the Syrian government.

    In 2009, Assad refused to sign an agreement with Qatar for an overland pipeline running from the Gulf to Europe via Syria to protect the interests of its Russian ally, which is Europe's top supplied of natural gas.



    An Arab diplomat with contacts in Moscow said: "President Putin listened politely to his interlocutor and let him know that his country would not change its strategy."



    "Bandar bin Sultan then let the Russians know that the only option left in Syria was military and that they should forget about Geneva because the opposition would not attend."



    Russia and the United States have been trying for months to organise an international peace conference between Assad's regime and the opposition to take place in Geneva, but so far to no avail.



    Asked about the Putin-Bandar meeting, a Syrian politician said: "As was the case before with Qatar and Lavrov (in talks), Saudi Arabia thinks that politics is a simple matter of buying people or countries. It doesn't understand that Russia is a major power and that this is not how it draws up policy."



    "Syria and Russia have had close ties for over half a century in all fields and it's not Saudi rials that will change this fact," he added.

    According to military expert Alexander Goltz from online opposition newspaper Ejednevny, "such an agreement seems extremely improbable."

    Of course it is, because as JPM and Goldman are to the US government, so Gazprom is to Russia.

    What is most interesting here is that Russia is now actively stretching its wings against not only the US but its chief foreign allies abroad. Which only means that a confrontation with Israel, directly over Iran or otherwise, is only a matter of time.

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-...di-offer-betray-syria-exchange-huge-arms-deal
     
  3. Abu Sina

    Abu Sina New Member

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    interesting that an English speaker from Canada highlights the face in the photo and not the spelling mistake !! :hmm:
     
  4. Stuart Wolfe

    Stuart Wolfe Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I saw the "ExtremisN" ("Extremist leaders" would be more concise) and "DecIEved", but I gave them a pass as it seemed obvious the person translating it had English as a second language.

    On the other hand, the person drawing the cartoon obviously has a good grasp of cartooning techniques, so unless Arabs are born looking like Benjamin Button, that remains one old fossil of a youth.

    [​IMG]
     
  5. Abu Sina

    Abu Sina New Member

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    Assad or US Saudi led Al Qaeda jihadists?

    Syrians have to decide which
     
  6. AboveAlpha

    AboveAlpha Well-Known Member

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    Carlos...is such a Soldier who fights in support of a Murderous and Repressive Dictatorship a Soldier YOU would say fights with HONOR?

    AboveAlpha
     
  7. SyrianGirl1982

    SyrianGirl1982 New Member

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    Identities of terrorist revealed. The below photograph shows the photograph of an Al-Qaeda group in Aleppo. They were involved in the takeover of Menagh Airport in Aleppo.

    [​IMG]

    Saudi terrorist that blew himself in the middle of the airport with 6 tons of explosives.

    [​IMG]

    Another Saudi that blew himself up in Menagh Airport.

    [​IMG]
     
  8. SyrianGirl1982

    SyrianGirl1982 New Member

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    [​IMG]


    I guess all those Soviet soldiers that fought against Nazi Germany did not fight with honor and don't deserve respect.
    I guess all those Yugoslav Partisans did not fight with honor and don't deserve respect because they were led by Josip Broz Tito.
    I guess all those South African soldiers in Angola did not fight with honor because they were serving the apartheid government.
    I guess all those British Soldiers of the British Empire did not fight with honor and don't deserve respect.
    I guess all those African American soldiers in US Army during WWII and could not go into White restaurants or Bathrooms, or even had to fight in segregated units, did not fight with honor.
    I guess the Tuskegee Airmen did not fight with honor, because they served the US during a time when it was a racist oppressive country.


    Stop please. You are only embarrassing yourself.
     
  9. AboveAlpha

    AboveAlpha Well-Known Member

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    Come On Abu!

    I KNOW that you KNOW the realities about Assad.

    As well I KNOW that you KNOW that Assad is using the facts that there does exist an ever growing Sunni Extremist element to the Syrian Rebel force....as a way to gather world media support to allow him to keep power in Syria as a way to counter Sunni Extremists.

    The Saudi Royalty are a serious PAIN IN THE ASS....as they are afraid that if they stop funding Madrassas they think that the Sunni Extremists in their own Kingdom will attempt to overthrow the Royal Family.

    In the meantime all these Madrassas that the Saudi Royal Family is funding keep producing Terrorists in the Kingdom which eventually cause all sorts of havoc all over the world.

    But the Assad Regime is also ONE BIG PAIN IN THE ASS as well.

    Syria has a population that is about 10% Christian and Assad is playing the CHRISTIAN CARD as he keeps detailing to the World Media how if he is removed from power...who would protect the Syrian Christians from Sunni Extremists?

    The facts are that Assad has successfully made himself and his regime....both of which have been detailed and proved my a huge number of Human Rights Groups to be active in Torture, Murder, War Crimes and a great deal more horrific acts....to be some kind of SAVIOR to Christians and Moderates living in Syria.

    Remember Assad is the SAME GUY who stole several BILLION DOLLARS from a U.N. OIL FOR FOOD PROGRAM as well along with his Brother is responsible for murdering even ALAWITE'S and other Shiites as he consolidated power in Lebanon and in the Syrian Military where he was raised in rank to COLONEL by his Father.

    Now...I KNOW THIS ASSAD'S RAP SHEET!!

    It reads like a DEMONS RESUME!!!

    For those of you who have somehow allowed yourself to be duped into believing a single thing Assad has ever said or promised...I am telling you in the end....Assad will be the one with BLOOD ON HIS HANDS.

    AboveAlpha
     
  10. SyrianGirl1982

    SyrianGirl1982 New Member

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    Wish you could be sent to your Al-Nusra and FSA buddies so you can discuss with them how evil and horrific Assad is. After a day you will crying begging for SAA to come and rescue you from jihadi hell.
     
  11. AboveAlpha

    AboveAlpha Well-Known Member

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    There is a difference between those who are fighting for the PEOPLE of their Country and those fighting for their LEADER!!!

    Now right now....Assad could STEP DOWN...and declare that within 9 Months ELECTIONS would be held...FREE AND HONEST ELECTIONS with U.N. Oversight.

    At that very moment the Syrian Rebels would stop fighting and any of their ranks that were Extremists and did not stop fighting would then be targeted by the Rebel Force.

    The FACT is that Assad doesn't care about the Syrian People...he doesn't care how many people will die in a Civil War that is all about Assad stepping down from power....HELL...Assad doesn't even care how many Alawite's and Shiite's DIE supporting him!!!

    All Assad cares about is REMAINING IN POWER....and being allowed to keep STEALING BILLIONS OF DOLLARS FROM THE SYRIAN PEOPLE!!!

    If Assad was any decent Leader he would rather step down from power than allow his own country to go to war.

    AboveAlpha
     
  12. AboveAlpha

    AboveAlpha Well-Known Member

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    You are making the mistake of assuming I do not know the Players and the Victims of this little Civil War and the previous Assad Regimes systematic torture and murder of any and all apposed to him.

    You might be able to tell tale tales to other people on this forum who have never been to Damascus or perhaps never left their own country....but NOT TO ME!!

    AboveAlpha
     
  13. SyrianGirl1982

    SyrianGirl1982 New Member

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    I guess the Soviet soldiers had to demand Stalin step down so they could hold free elections?
    I guess Yugoslav partisans should have stood idly and demanded Tito step down at a time of nazi occupation
    I guess US President should have stepped down over Jim Crow, Segregation, Slavery, Kent State Massacre

    You make no sense. Stop it please.

    Elections in Syria? Would you like to volunteer as an election worker in Aleppo? Deir ez-Zor? Ar-Raqqah? Deraa? Homs? Half of Damascus is destroyed. The Al-Nusra Jihadis will turn you and your elections into fine powder. Go ahead and try to hold elections in Al-Raqqah with 5000 Al-Qaeda jihadis there! You even understand situation on the ground in Syria? Jihadis have destroyed the economy, people are starving, women being oppressed by jihadis, minorities being massacred, and 6 million refugees on brink of collapse.
     
  14. AboveAlpha

    AboveAlpha Well-Known Member

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    This is an Amnesty International 2013 Report on Assad's Regime in Syria.

    The internal armed conflict between government forces and the opposition, composed of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and other armed opposition groups, was marked by gross human rights abuses, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Government forces, which were responsible for the vast majority of violations, carried out indiscriminate attacks on residential areas using aircraft, artillery shells, mortars, incendiary weapons and cluster bombs. Together with their support militias, they arrested thousands of people, including children, subjecting many to enforced disappearance. Torture and other ill-treatment of detainees were commonplace; at least 550 were reported to have died in custody, many after torture. Others were extrajudicially executed. Security forces’ snipers continued to shoot peaceful anti-government demonstrators and people attending public funerals. Health workers treating the wounded were targeted. A climate of impunity reigned both for past and ongoing gross human rights violations. Armed groups fighting against the government also committed gross abuses, including war crimes. They tortured and/or summarily killed government soldiers and militia members after taking them prisoner and carried out indiscriminate bombings that killed or injured civilians. Hundreds of thousands of people were forced to flee their homes; the UN estimated that over 2 million people were internally displaced and living under conditions of extreme hardship within Syria, and that since the beginning of the conflict almost 600,000 had fled as refugees to neighbouring countries, where conditions were often harsh. It was not possible to confirm whether any death sentences were imposed or if executions were carried out.
    Background

    The internal armed conflict engulfed much of the country, causing thousands of casualties among the civilian population. Indiscriminate air strikes, artillery and mortar attacks, bombings, extrajudicial executions and summary killings, threats, abductions and hostage-taking became commonplace.
    In January, the Arab League suspended its mission to monitor pledges by the Syrian government to withdraw armed forces from cities, halt the violence and release prisoners. Similarly, the UN Supervision Mission in Syria, established in April to monitor and support implementation of a plan by UN and Arab League Joint Special Envoy Kofi Annan, ended on 19 August as armed violence continued. The Russian Federation and China twice vetoed resolutions at the UN Security Council aimed at addressing the situation in Syria. Veteran Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi replaced Kofi Annan in August but made no progress towards obtaining an agreed political solution to the conflict by the end of the year.
    In February, the government held a referendum on a new Constitution that ended the Ba’ath party’s long monopoly on power, but fell short of opposition demands for sweeping political reforms. Parliamentary elections were held 90 days later.
    The government continued to attribute many killings of protesters to shadowy “armed gangs” and adopted a new anti-terrorism law in July. This was used to detain and unfairly try political activists and others on vague charges of committing “terrorist acts” before a new Anti-Terrorism Court which began sitting in September.
    A bomb attack in the capital Damascus on 18 July, for which the FSA claimed responsibility, killed the Defence Minister and his deputy, the Assistant Vice-President and the Head of the National Security Bureau. Two days later, armed opposition groups launched an offensive that spread the armed conflict to Aleppo, Damascus and elsewhere.
    In September, the UN Human Rights Council extended the mandate of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry established in 2011. The Commission reported in February and August that government forces had committed crimes against humanity, war crimes and serious human rights abuses, while war crimes committed by armed opposition forces did not reach the “gravity, frequency and scale” of those committed by government forces. The authorities continued to refuse both the Human Rights Council and the Commission entry to the country. They also restricted entry by international media and independent human rights organizations, although these gained access to various areas, including some controlled by armed opposition forces.
    The government announced general amnesties in January and October, but it was unclear how many of those arbitrarily detained were released.
    In November, various opposition groups united to form the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, which was then increasingly recognized internationally as the sole, legitimate representative of the Syrian people.
    The USA and the Arab League continued to impose sanctions on Syria, while repeatedly calling for President al-Assad to relinquish power. The EU expanded its targeted sanctions against Syrian officials.
    Top of page
    Crimes under international law

    Government forces and their associated militias committed war crimes while rampaging through cities, towns and villages perceived to be opposition strongholds in areas including Homs, Idlib, Hama, Damascus and Aleppo governorates. They carried out indiscriminate attacks that killed or injured thousands of civilians. Many of the deaths resulted from the government’s improper use of imprecise battlefield weapons in densely populated civilian areas. In addition to dropping free-fall, unguided bombs from aircraft, security forces fired mortars, artillery, incendiary weapons and rockets in residential areas. They also used internationally banned weapons, including anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions, and systematically looted, destroyed and burned property and sometimes the bodies of those they killed.
    Hassan and Rayan al-Bajri, aged 11 and eight, their mother Salha and father Naasan, were killed along with two of their neighbours when their home in Ma’arat al-No’man was hit by a mortar shell fired by government forces in July.
    Twenty-two civilians were killed and many more injured when government air strikes hit the market in Kafr Anbel village on 28 August. Among the victims were Fathiya Fares Ali al-Sheikh, a mother of nine, and teenagers Mohamed and Jumaa al-Sweid.
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    Abuses by armed opposition groups

    Armed groups fighting against the government, including some linked to the FSA, committed serious violations of international humanitarian law amounting to war crimes. The victims were mostly known or suspected members of government forces and militiamen whom they tortured or summarily killed after capture or after “trials” before unfair makeshift courts. They also targeted journalists working for pro-government media, and families of suspected members of government militias. Armed groups threatened and abducted civilians, sometimes demanding ransoms for their release and, in some cases, held individuals as hostages, including captured soldiers and Lebanese and Iranian nationals. They carried out suicide and other bomb attacks, and at times fired imprecise weapons such as artillery and mortars in densely populated neighbourhoods, used inherently indiscriminate weapons such as anti-personnel landmines, and prepared or stored munitions and explosives in residential buildings, endangering civilian occupants. Children were used militarily, mostly in support, not combat, roles. By the end of the year, armed opposition groups were reported to be increasingly threatening and attacking minority communities perceived to be pro-government.
    Nine of 11 Shi’a Muslim Lebanese men taken as hostages by the armed group ‘Asifat al-Shimal Brigade while travelling to Lebanon from Iran on 22 May were still being held at the end of the year.
    On 31 July, following intense clashes, the armed group al-Tawhid Brigade captured 14 members of the Sunni Muslim pro-government al-Berri clan. Video footage showed the captured men being tortured before at least three of them, including a clan leader, Ali Zein al-‘Abdeen al-Berri, were shot dead. The FSA’s Head of Central Media condemned the killings and announced an investigation. No investigation was known to have been carried out.
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    Freedom of expression – attacks on journalists

    All sides targeted journalists; Syrian government forces also targeted citizen journalists. At least 11 were killed in apparently targeted attacks, while others were detained or taken hostage. Other journalists died as a result of indiscriminate shelling or crossfire.
    US journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed when government forces shelled a building in Homs on 22 February. Journalists who survived alleged that the building was deliberately targeted because it was being used as a media centre. Rami al-Sayed, a Syrian citizen journalist reporting from Homs, died from shrapnel wounds from shelling on the same day.
    Maya Nasser, a Syrian correspondent for the Iranian state-run Press TV, was shot dead, apparently by opposition snipers, while reporting on a bomb attack against the army headquarters in Damascus on 26 September. His colleague Hussein Mortada from the Iranian al-Alam news network was injured in the attack. Both men had previously received threats from opposition forces.
    Ali Mahmoud Othman, an activist in the Homs media centre, was arrested at his home on 24 March. After an appearance on state television in April, his family had no further information from state officials concerning his whereabouts by the end of the year.
    Mazen Darwish, head of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), and four other SCM staff, Abd al-Rahman Hamada, Hussein Gharir, Mansour al-Omari and Hani al-Zitani, were detained incommunicado following their arrest by Air Force Intelligence officers on 16 February in Damascus and were still being held at the end of the year. Eleven other people arrested at the same time were released, although seven were later convicted by a military court of “possessing prohibited materials with the intent to disseminate them”.
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    Extrajudicial executions by government forces and associated militias

    Government forces and the militias operating alongside them summarily executed captured opposition fighters and civilians, sometimes in large numbers, during military incursions into areas perceived to be supportive of the opposition. Often the dead were found with their hands tied behind their backs, with multiple gunshot wounds to the upper body. Some were burned.
    Government soldiers took three brothers – Yousef, Bilal and Talal Haj Hussein, all construction workers in their twenties – from their home in Sarmin, a suburb of Idlib, on 23 March. They summarily executed them in front of their mother and sisters, before setting their bodies on fire.
    Scores of people, including many civilians not involved in fighting, were summarily executed during a military incursion into Houla village, near Homs, on 25 May. Despite government denials, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry concluded that “over 100 civilians, nearly half of whom were children” were killed there by government soldiers and associated militias.
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    Excessive use of force by government forces and associated militias

    Government forces and militias routinely used lethal and other excessive force to quell peaceful protests calling for the “fall of the regime”. Hundreds of people, including children and bystanders, who posed no threat to the security forces or others, were killed or wounded by government snipers during protests and public funerals of “martyrs”. The authorities pressed some victims’ families to sign statements blaming armed terrorist groups rather than the security forces for their relatives’ deaths.
    Mohammed Haffar, who owned a sweet shop in Aleppo, was shot dead on 17 May. He was standing outside his shop when government forces opened fire on a demonstration.
    Mo’az Lababidi, a 16-year-old schoolboy, was among 10 people shot dead on 25 May by security forces and plain-clothes militias. He was killed outside an Aleppo police station while walking in the funeral procession of four demonstrators similarly shot dead earlier that day.
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    Targeting the wounded and health workers

    Government forces and militias hunted down injured civilians and opposition fighters, some of whom were also ill-treated in state hospitals. Government forces also targeted makeshift medical centres set up by the opposition to assist the wounded, and the volunteer doctors, nurses and paramedics who worked in them.
    The burned, mutilated bodies of students Basel Aslan, Mus’ab Barad and Hazem Batikh, who belonged to a medical network assisting injured protesters, were found in Aleppo on 24 June, a week after Air Force Intelligence officials detained them. Basel Aslan’s hands were tied behind his back; he had been tortured and shot in the head.
    Osama al-Habaly was reportedly arrested on 18 August by Syrian Military Intelligence at the Syrian-Lebanese border while returning home from receiving medical treatment in Lebanon. His family was told that he had been tortured, but they received no official information about his fate.
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    Repression of dissent

    The government maintained tight controls on freedoms of expression, association and assembly. Government security forces and militiamen detained thousands of people during demonstrations, raids on homes and house-to-house searches during military clampdowns. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of people were held incommunicado in conditions that amounted to enforced disappearance, often in undisclosed and sometimes makeshift detention centres, where torture and other abuses were rife and committed with impunity. Those detained included political and human rights activists, journalists, bloggers, humanitarian workers and imams. Some were convicted and sentenced after unfair trials, including before military and special courts.
    Prominent human rights lawyer Khalil Ma’touq and his friend Mohammed Thatha went missing on 2 October while travelling through security forces’ checkpoints in Damascus. Their families were told that they were being held incommunicado at a State Security branch in Damascus.
    Four women – Ru’a Ja’far, Rima Dali and sisters Kinda al-Za’our, and Lubna al-Za’our – were held for seven weeks after their arrest by security officials on 21 November while walking in a Damascus street dressed as brides and calling for an end to violence in Syria.
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    Torture and other ill-treatment

    Torture and other ill-treatment of detainees, including children, were widespread and committed with impunity by government forces and associated militias seeking to extract information or “confessions” and to terrorize or punish suspected government opponents. Methods included severe beatings, suspension by the limbs, being suspended in a tyre, electric shocks and rape and other sexual abuse. Detainees were often held in very cramped, insanitary conditions and denied medical treatment or even abused by medical staff.
    Salameh Kaileh, a Palestinian journalist with Jordanian nationality, was tortured by Air Force Intelligence officers after being arrested at his home in Damascus on 24 April, apparently because of a Facebook conversation and his possession of a left-wing publication. He was whipped on the soles of his feet and insulted. On 3 May he was moved to a military hospital, where he and others were beaten, insulted and denied access to toilets and medication. He was deported to Jordan on 14 May.
    Some opposition armed groups also tortured and otherwise ill-treated members of the security forces or government supporters following capture.
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    Deaths in custody

    At least 550 people, including children, were reported to have died in custody, most apparently as a result of torture or other ill-treatment. Many of those who died were suspected government opponents. Nobody was brought to justice for causing the deaths of detainees.
    Brothers Ahmad and Yahia Ka’ake were arrested at an army checkpoint near Aleppo on 29 September. Days later, a relative located the body of Ahmad Ka’ake in a morgue; it had four bullet wounds. Yahia Ka’ake continued to be detained incommunicado.
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    Enforced disappearances

    Government forces withheld information on the fate of hundreds, possibly thousands, of detainees held in connection with the conflict in conditions that amounted to enforced disappearance. The authorities also continued their failure to account for some 17,000 people who disappeared in Syrian custody since the late 1970s. They included hundreds of Palestinians and Lebanese nationals who were arrested in Syria or abducted from Lebanon by Syrian forces or by Lebanese and Palestinian militias. However, the release of Lebanese national Yacoub Chamoun almost 27 years after he went missing reinforced hopes among some families that their loved ones may still be alive.
    Activist Zilal Ibrahim al-Salhani disappeared after security forces arrested her at her home in Aleppo on 28 July. Her fate was still unknown at the end of the year.
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    Impunity

    The government took no steps to investigate the numerous allegations against their forces or to bring anyone to justice for alleged gross human rights violations, crimes against humanity or war crimes. The government maintained a regime of impunity, including legislation giving members of the security forces effective immunity for unlawful killings, torture, enforced disappearances and other human rights violations. Nor did the authorities take any steps to investigate and hold to account those responsible for gross violations committed in the past, including thousands of enforced disappearances and the killing of prisoners at Saydnaya prison in 2008 and Tadmur prison in June 1980. In February, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry gave the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights a sealed list of senior officials whom it said should be investigated for crimes against humanity.
    Armed opposition groups also failed to respect international humanitarian law, including by failing to prevent war crimes such as torture and the summary killings of captives.
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    Refugees and internally displaced people

    Government forces launched frequent, indiscriminate air strikes against opposition-controlled areas, prompting almost all residents of these areas to flee. Others, particularly those from minority groups, also fled their homes fearing attacks from armed opposition groups. Many camped in the countryside or sought refuge in caves; others went to live with relatives or left the country. Refugees from elsewhere resident in Syria, including Palestinian refugees, faced particular difficulties in accessing safety.
    In December, the UN estimated that over 2 million people in Syria were internally displaced as a result of the conflict, requiring humanitarian assistance. UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said almost 600,000 Syrians had been registered or were awaiting registration as refugees in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and North Africa, although the total number of those who had fled Syria was believed to be higher. Neighbouring countries allowed thousands of refugees from Syria access to safety and assistance on their territories; however, in mid-August, Turkey and Iraq curtailed entry, in violation of international law. By the end of the year, thousands of people were living in camps beside the border with Turkey in dire conditions.

    LINK...http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/syria/report-2013

    AboveAlpha
     
  15. SyrianGirl1982

    SyrianGirl1982 New Member

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    Right. Because you have been living in Syria all your glorious life? You know everything! You even know whats best for me! You know whats best for all Syrians. Silly us Syrians, AboveAlpha is here to show us where we went wrong. What a marvelous humanitarian you are? What's your biggest humanitarian accomplishment, donating 5 dollars to the Red Cross?
     
  16. AboveAlpha

    AboveAlpha Well-Known Member

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    YOU...are not currently living in Syria.

    As well if you were...the Assad Regimes Internet Filters would NOT allow you to access this Political Forum.

    AboveAlpha
     
  17. SyrianGirl1982

    SyrianGirl1982 New Member

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    I am going back in 2 weeks. No filters in Syria on this forum. There is only a filter against your nonsense. Assad doesn't care about this forum. He cares about destroying wahhabi-terrorist cockroaches and their sympathizers.

    My family in Syria is freely able to write me any emails, do chat, and Skype video chat.
     
  18. AboveAlpha

    AboveAlpha Well-Known Member

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    Well then...I guess even though this Political Forum is the MOST ACTIVE POLITICAL FORUM on the Internet and has THOUSANDS of members from countries all over the world...WHY is it....NOT ONE OF THE MEMBERS IS ACTIVELY POSTING FROM SYRIA!!???

    Answer...Because THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED TO!

    AboveAlpha
     
  19. AboveAlpha

    AboveAlpha Well-Known Member

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    If members take the time to read that Amnesty International Report...I made sure to post the atrocities committed by both the Assad Regimes Military as well as the atrocities committed by the Rebel Forces.

    Unlike...SOME members on this forum...I am dedicated to posting the FACTS and will not allow my personal beliefs and ideology to get in the way of posting the REALITIES.

    But if members take the time to read it...they will find the number and scope of atrocities done by Assad's supporters far exceeds those done by any other group in this conflict.

    AboveAlpha
     
  20. SyrianGirl1982

    SyrianGirl1982 New Member

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    There is plenty of Syrians sharing their opinions on other sites, all Arabic speaking ones. Not too many speak English well enough to get into conversations with foreigners.

    This forum has too much nonsense and not too much insight. It is too insignificant to get banned in Syria. militaryphotos.net forum is far superior but they are too strict in their policies and you would be banned in a day. There is far more insight and balanced opinion from people on the ground. Plenty of Syrians from Syria there, some supporting Assad and others supporting rebels. If you made your posts there that you made here, they would simply laugh and ban you immediately.
     
  21. AboveAlpha

    AboveAlpha Well-Known Member

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    So...you are saying that my posts on this topic which I BACK UP with LINKS to sources such as the one I have just posted that being Amnesty Internationals 2013 Report upon atrocities committed in Syria....would be considered as BULL and LAUGHED AT!!??? LOL!

    SyrianGirl...I have nothing against Syrians, Shia or Sunni's.

    What I have posted is FACTS. VERIFIABLE FACTS....that I have taken GREAT CARE to provide links to viable sources so that anyone here can read the reality.

    Now I do not recall you....EVER...providing a LINK to a source to provide some kind of proof to back your statements that another member has questioned.

    I think you KNOW just to what level and extent my knowledge and experiences are specific to Syria...Assad and his Fathers criminal actions...and the Middle East as a whole.

    Now you have the right to post your beliefs....but unless you can provide a LINK to PROOF that might disprove anything I have stated....you would do yourself a favor and cease looking like a complete MOUTHPIECE for an oppressive, murderous regime.

    AboveAlpha
     
  22. AboveAlpha

    AboveAlpha Well-Known Member

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    THAT...Folks is the Proof in the Pudding!

    Members can tell whether or not another member is posting FACTS or just posting their beliefs and opinions that usually is driven by a specific ideology as is the case with SyrianGirl.

    Now she has a point that Assad has kept Syrian Christians relatively safe from Sunni Extremist's...as well she has a point that Assad has kept Sunni Extremists from turning Syria into a Strict Islamic State.

    But what she fails to detail is Assad uses these two points as a way to JUSTIFY the continuance of his Dictatorship.

    Assad cares about ONE THING AND ONE THING ONLY....REMAINING IN POWER AND IN CONTROL OF SYRIA AND SYRIA'S MONEY!!!

    Assad is willing to DO ANYTHING to remain in power and even if it was a choice between Assad remaining in Power and thus the DEATHS OF EVERY LAST PERSON IN SYRIA...or Assad stepping down from power which would stop the war....Assad would choose the DEATHS OF EVERY LAST PERSON IN SYRIA TO ALLOW HIM TO REMAIN IN POWER!!!

    I posted a HISTORY of Assad's rise to power in Syria on one of the Syrian specific topics and my post details how Assad's father positioned his son to rule Lebanon as well as Assad's role in the Syrian Military and eventually how Assad became the Syrian Dictator for LIFE after his father.

    This is the History and rise of a man...Bashar al-Assad, who graduated with a degree in ophthalmology at Damascus University in 1988, and went to London in 1992 to further his studies. My post details how he was able to push aside Lebanese Politicians as well as controlled a U.N. Food for Oil Program which he corrupted resulting in Assad STEALING OVER $2 BILLION from that U.N. Program.

    Assad is intelligent, cool and calculating and at one time it was part of my....JOB...to study the man.

    His intelligence and ability to out think and out maneuver any rivals is only surpassed by his ability of VIOLENT AND EMOTIONALLY DISCONNECTED FROM ANY ELEMENT OF HUMANITY...SHEER BRUTALITY AND VICIOUSNESS!!

    There are a few things I know about him I cannot post here but I will leave it to the membership reading this to think about what Assad studied in School and connect it to Assad's ability for Vicious Brutality and Assad's ability to coldly disconnect himself from any attachment or empathy to another Human Being.

    If a member is smart enough...they will understand what that means.

    AboveAlpha
     
  23. SyrianGirl1982

    SyrianGirl1982 New Member

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    Assad & Secular Syria forever. I will die fighting for Assad rather than live under Wahhabi Saudi Paradise.
     
  24. AboveAlpha

    AboveAlpha Well-Known Member

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    Why would you not desire to live in a FREE SYRIA...where ALL SYRIAN'S would be protected by a New Syrian Constitution and Bill of Rights that allows Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech, a Just and Honorable Court System, Free Elections...and a SYRIAN LEADER who is ELECTED by the People but this leader CANNOT change or create any Law that is in conflict with this new Syrian Constitution?

    I know for a fact that the Syrian Civil War would be over and end the moment Assad stepped down and if he did and set up an intern Government with members of all Political Parties until elections could be held and a new Syrian Constitution could be drawn up with the help of the U.N...to make certain the new Syrian Constitution was drafted to protect THE RIGHTS OF THE MINORITY as well as the Majority.

    You think that Assad remaining in power is the only way to prevent the creation of a Islamic State in Syria...well it is not the only way.

    The VAST MAJORITY of Syrians would be willing to have a Free and Democratic Syria.

    Just because the majority of the Syrian Population is Sunni...doesn't mean that a new government would oppress the Shiites.

    If you allowed the U.N...with the help of Russia, the United States, the U.K. and France ...to help Syria design a new Constitution and ELECT a new leader...you would be a lot better off.

    AboveAlpha
     
  25. AboveAlpha

    AboveAlpha Well-Known Member

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    So...no comment to my last post to you?

    This Folks is an example of a member...SyrianGirl...who has been so INDOCTRINATED by a REPRESSIVE REGIME....that she has not even CONSIDERED an alternative to many more years of Assad remaining in power in Syria.

    I mean...SyrianGirl....you have said to me a few times that you are aware that Assad has a long history of brutality towards any other rivals or any Syrian who might dare challenge his rule or even speak out against Assad.

    Since you have acknowledged this to me....why can't you at the very least...CONSIDER...the possibility that there might be a better way to keep Syria a Secular State and at the same time make Syria a Free and Democratic System of Government?

    Why?

    AboveAlpha
     
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