Syrian security forces open fire on mourners

[News_Editor]

Syrian security forces open fire on mourners

2011-04-23 23:33:12 GMT+7 (ICT)

DAMASCUS, SYRIA (BNO NEWS) -- Syrian security forces on Saturday killed at least five demonstrators in Damascus as thousands gathered across the country to mourn the deaths of dozens of anti-government protesters killed the day before.

A witness told CNN that security forces on the rooftops of government buildings fired shots as people marched from the burial grounds towards the main hospital in the Damascus suburb of Douma.

"We were chanting 'with our bloods with our souls we will sacrifice for you martyrs.' And all of sudden and without warning, they fired indiscriminately into the crowd," the witness said.

Wissam Tarif, a human rights activist who is not in Syria but remains in contact with activists across the country, told CNN he was told the forces were firing at random targets. He added that activists have confirmed at least 84 deaths from Friday's confrontations between protesters and security forces.

The Syrian Arab News Agency said a "limited number of demonstrators" came out on Friday and that security forces settled "scuffles that erupted between demonstrators and citizens".

A Syrian parliament member, Khalil Al Rifai, resigned in protest at the violence. He said in a television interview that security forces opened fire even though President Bashar al-Assad promised not to use force against protesters.

Friday's protests came a day after President al-Assad lifted the country's 48-year-old state of emergency and abolished the state security court, both of which were key demands of the demonstrators.

In mid-March, pro-democracy demonstrations began in Syria and have continued across the country, which has been ruled by the Baath Party since 1963. Protesters are demanding the ouster of al-Assad, who took over the post from his father Hafez al-Assad in 2000, and calling for greater freedoms including the end of the 1963 state of emergency.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-04-23

[geriatrickid]

Quite an interesting dynamic to the protests. Al Jazeera gives a different view of events reporting that the protests started with the Kurds;

As they had on previous Fridays, the protests began in the northeast, home to the majority of Syria's Kurds, the largest ethnic minority in the country.

And then the protests are joined by residents of the Palestinian Arab encampments.

Another insightful observation;

"All the young men, all the women, all the teenagers. We are a tribal society here."

This may explain why the arab countries are still supporting and backing the Syrian regime. There is a fear of more instability and a descent into uncontrolled tribalism and a fracturing of the national boundaries created by foreign occupiers, particularly the Ottoman Empire followed by the leftover colonial stewardship of the Europeans.

Turkey and Iran have a vested interest in Syria as they have their own Kurdish problem.

Al Jazeera reported; Earlier this month, al-Assad tried to win support among this long-hostile demographic by restoring citizenship to up to 300,000 stateless Kurds.

This isn't going to make Iran or Turkey happy as their goal is to keep the Kurds marginalized and effectively stateless.

The Syrians are probably considering a few options now that will most likely include;

1. Look to cause trouble somewhere else to distract the public opinion.

2. Launch a peace initiative with Israel, sticking it to the Palestinian Arabs and offering payback for the uprisings that have heavily implicated the palestinian Arabs in Syria.

Israel, must be ripped apart by two competing sets of emotions: Delight that the chickens have come home to roost in Syria and Fear of what happens if a hostile but known entity collapses and is replaced by an unknown group that will most likely be influenced by Iran. I anticipate that both Iran and Turkey are going to be frantically considering options as the Kurds have ongoing feuds with the two countries. Both Iran and Turkey will want to see Syria crush any attempt by the Kurds to express themselves.If the Kurds succeed this will create a massive political headache for Iran and Turkey as they will face demands from their own kurdish populations.

[Steely Dan]

Quite an interesting dynamic to the protests. Al Jazeera gives a different view of events reporting that the protests started with the Kurds;

As they had on previous Fridays, the protests began in the northeast, home to the majority of Syria's Kurds, the largest ethnic minority in the country.

And then the protests are joined by residents of the Palestinian Arab encampments.

Another insightful observation;

"All the young men, all the women, all the teenagers. We are a tribal society here."

This may explain why the arab countries are still supporting and backing the Syrian regime. There is a fear of more instability and a descent into uncontrolled tribalism and a fracturing of the national boundaries created by foreign occupiers, particularly the Ottoman Empire followed by the leftover colonial stewardship of the Europeans.

Turkey and Iran have a vested interest in Syria as they have their own Kurdish problem.

Al Jazeera reported; Earlier this month, al-Assad tried to win support among this long-hostile demographic by restoring citizenship to up to 300,000 stateless Kurds.

This isn't going to make Iran or Turkey happy as their goal is to keep the Kurds marginalized and effectively stateless.

The Syrians are probably considering a few options now that will most likely include;

1. Look to cause trouble somewhere else to distract the public opinion.

2. Launch a peace initiative with Israel, sticking it to the Palestinian Arabs and offering payback for the uprisings that have heavily implicated the palestinian Arabs in Syria.

Israel, must be ripped apart by two competing sets of emotions: Delight that the chickens have come home to roost in Syria and Fear of what happens if a hostile but known entity collapses and is replaced by an unknown group that will most likely be influenced by Iran. I anticipate that both Iran and Turkey are going to be frantically considering options as the Kurds have ongoing feuds with the two countries. Both Iran and Turkey will want to see Syria crush any attempt by the Kurds to express themselves.If the Kurds succeed this will create a massive political headache for Iran and Turkey as they will face demands from their own kurdish populations.

The irony of it all. Assad's well established weapon smuggling operations have been turned against him. I've read that Saudi money has facilitated this. Agreed Israel must be unsure of what lies ahead; they may find shiite terrorists are replaced by Sunni terrorists after the smoke clears, however if Israel were to somehow support the Kurds this would be a great way of turning Iran's dirty war back on itself through arming Kurdish insurgents.

There is another consideration here; The proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia may be spilling over into another theatre and this may even lead to outright clashes between the two which would result in the middle east going up like a powder keg based on Sunni and Shia divisions - In which case we can all sit back and watch from the sidelines as happened with the Iran/Iraq war.