Sinister Cultural Marxist
15th August 2011, 19:39
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/08/2011815133431188.html
Syrian troops have kept up their assault on the coastal city of Latakia for a third day, reportedly killing three people.
Residents told Al Jazeera that the army was using heavy machine guns and tanks, and had rounded up people in a sports stadium in the city on Monday.
"As of 10GMT, the army instructed all residents in southern and southeastern Latakia to evacuate", Al Jazeera's Nisreen El-Shamayleh, reporting from the Jordanian side of the Jordan-Syria border, said.
According to activists, most people started fleeing to the heart of the city and there Syrian troops arrested many of them.
"They transported them on buses to the sports city stadium and there they're being held captured, stripped of their IDs and mobile phones," El-Shamayleh said.
http://english.aljazeera.net/mritems/Images/2011/4/21/201142114812843621_8.jpg (http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/Syria) She said residents called the assault the "most atrocious attack" since protests against President Bashar al-Assad's government began five months ago. The Syrian Revolution Co-ordinating Union, a grassroots activists' group, said three people were killed by security forces on Monday, bringing the total killed since Saturday to at least 31 civilians
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said one of the three was killed after troops opened fire as a group of fleeing residents approached a checkpoint in the Ein Tamra district of Latakia.
"People are trying to flee but they cannot leave Latakia because it is besieged. The best they can do is to move from one area to another within the city," a witness told Reuters.
Turkey threat
Meanwhile, the Turkish foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, urged Syria to immediately end its deadly crackdown, threatening it with unspecified "steps" if it fails to do so.
Davutoglu said the bloodshed must end "immediately and without conditions or excuses."
"If the operations do not end, there would be nothing more to discuss about steps that would be taken," he said, without saying what that action could include.
The worst-hit area of Latakia is the al-Ramel neighbourhood, which has seen persistent protests since the uprising began. The area also houses a Palestinian refugee camp.
UNRWA spokesman talks to Al Jazeera about
the situation at the Palestinian camp in Latakia
Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said 5,000 to 10,000 residents of the camp had been fleeing after it came under fire.
The government has justified its crackdown on the city by saying it is dealing with "terrorist" gangs.
On Sunday, official news agency SANA said troops were pursuing "gunmen using machine guns, hand grenades and bombs who have been terrorising residents in the al-Ramel district'.'
A military source on Monday denied reports that the army had been using gunboats in the offensive, saying ships seen off the coast were carrying out routine tasks of protecting the coast and preventing weapons smuggling.
Elsewhere in the country, troops backed by tanks reportedly entered several towns in the central province of Homs, a flashpoint of demonstrations.
"The community of Holeh is under siege ... The army is carrying out raids and arrests under the cover of heavy gunfire," the SOHR said.
The group said a sniper had killed an elderly man.
Al Jazeera is unable to independently verify reports because of restrictions on reporting in Syria.
'Assad offered asylum'
Meanwhile, neighbouring Jordan on Monday urged Syria to stop violence and start implementing reforms.
"Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit today telephoned his Syrian counterpart Adel Safar and told him that violence must stop immediately," the state-run Petra news agency reported.
"Bakhit said Syria should listen to reason and start implementing reforms."
http://english.aljazeera.net/mritems/Images/2011/4/17/201141785133763140_8.jpg (http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/spotlight/syria/)
Germany called for more European Union sanctions against Syria and urged the UN Security Council to discuss the government crackdown there again. Andreas Peschke a foreign ministry, spokesman said reports of the assault on Latakia by tanks and navy gunboats gave a new reason to send a stronger message and increase EU sanctions.
"This current use of violence cannot be justified morally or under international law in any way," he said. "We are advocating for the UN Security Council to address the Syria issue again this week."
Earlier on Monday, Spain's El Pais newspaper reported that Madrid sent a special envoy to Damascus last month to convince Assad to accept a plan to go into exile with his family.
The government was also "ready to offer asylum to Assad and his family in Spain," the country's leading daily said.
"My impression is that [Assad] will not compromise on anything substantial," envoy Bernardino Leon said on his return, El Pais reported. "My [Syrian] interlocutors were totally detached from reality."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14533967
Activist Alexander Page (not his real name) says troops are shooting "anything that moves"
Continue reading the main story (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14533967#story_continues_1) Syria Crisis (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12813859)
Deadlock as pressure builds (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14467849)
Syria: Ramadan escalation fears (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-14359607)
UN Security Council statement (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14396703)
'Wait and see' for Syria protests (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14179188)
Thousands of Palestinian refugees are fleeing a camp in the Syrian port of Latakia which is being shelled by government troops, a UN agency says.
A spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works agency (Unrwa) told the BBC that more than 5,000 of the 10,000 refugees were on the move.
He said at least four people had died, urging immediate access to the site.
Some 30 people have reportedly died in Latakia in a three-day military attack. Syria says it is tackling gangs.
On Monday, there were also reports of a clampdown in the capital Damascus, with people being arrested randomly in the Jobar district.
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/54621000/jpg/_54621086_grab304.jpg Syrian troops have now taken control of Latakia's Ramel district, activists say
Neighbouring Turkey warned Damascus that military operations against protesters must stop "immediately and unconditionally".
"If these operations do not stop there will be nothing left to say about the steps that would be taken," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, without elaborating.
Ankara, a former close ally of Damascus, has been increasingly frustrated with its crackdown of the unrest.
More than 1,700 people have reportedly died and more than 30,000 have been detained in the six-month uprising against the rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
'Alarming' situation On Monday, Unrwa spokesman Christopher Gunness told the BBC that more than 5,000 Palestinian refugees from the camp in Latakia's al-Ramel district and surrounding areas had already fled.
"We have no idea where these people are, we have no idea how many of them are wounded, are dying, are elderly, are women, are children," he said.
Jim Muir BBC News, Beirut
Latakia was one of the cities to be caught up in the revolt soon after it erupted in mid-March. Despite repeated attempts by the regime to stifle defiance, it keeps breaking out.
It is a sensitive city. Its population is 600,000 or so, and it has a Sunni Muslim majority, as does the country, but there are also areas dominated by President Assad's minority Alawite community.
The current punishment is being meted out to mainly Sunni areas, a fact that could further aggravate sectarian tensions already sensitised by the situation.
He added that some refugees had been told by the Syrian government to leave the camp.
Mr Gunness described the situation in the camp as "alarming", calling on Damascus to grant Unwra immediate access to the site to establish "what is going on".
However, similar appeals in the past have been ignored in the past by the Syrian government, the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut reports.
Mr Gunness also said that reports from the site suggested that the Syrian military was using tanks and gunboats.
A Syrian military official on Monday denied as "absolutely baseless" reports that gunboats had fired on Latakia, Syria's official Sana news agency reported.
Activists on the ground said later on Monday that Syrian troops had taken control of the Ramel district.
'Terrorist gangs' The crackdown on Latakia began on Saturday, a day after mass anti-government protests in the city.
On Sunday, activists said Syrian warships had joined the attack, firing shells on the city.
One resident of Ramel told the Associated Press news agency: "We are being targeted from the ground and the sea. The shooting is intense. We cannot go out. They are raiding and breaking into people's homes."
A UK-based Anglican priest who is visiting his family in Latakia said earlier that the atmosphere in the city was extremely tense.
"[On Sunday] you could hear a lot of shooting and bombing from different parts of the city," the Reverend Nadim Nassar told the BBC. "The whole city is now shut... the fear is very high," he said.
Syria's state TV denied any shelling had happened.
It said the security forces were fighting armed gangs who had set up barricades and were shooting from rooftops.
The government said three members of the security forces were killed and 40 wounded in clashes. It interviewed some of the city's residents in other places who called on the army to clear out the "terrorist gangs".
Activists deny that their movement is armed but said at least one officer and a number of soldiers had defected to join the uprising.
I wonder what the Assad apologists think about this.
Note (edit)-the US State Dept is unsure whether they used ships for the shelling, according to the Syria liveblog (not that the USSD is a trustworthy source, but they wouldn't lie about that in particular). However it is clear that a brutal assault on yet another city is taking place. How many cities need to be assaulted with tanks, artillery and heavily armed infantry will be needed to get this rebellion under control? Hama has been assaulted, several other cities too ... I can't imagine the Syrian economy or society will emerge from this in a healthy state whether Assad falls or not. Either way, he has clearly exposed his government's true nature for the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoQOHoGNjUw&feature=player_embedded
Syrian troops have kept up their assault on the coastal city of Latakia for a third day, reportedly killing three people.
Residents told Al Jazeera that the army was using heavy machine guns and tanks, and had rounded up people in a sports stadium in the city on Monday.
"As of 10GMT, the army instructed all residents in southern and southeastern Latakia to evacuate", Al Jazeera's Nisreen El-Shamayleh, reporting from the Jordanian side of the Jordan-Syria border, said.
According to activists, most people started fleeing to the heart of the city and there Syrian troops arrested many of them.
"They transported them on buses to the sports city stadium and there they're being held captured, stripped of their IDs and mobile phones," El-Shamayleh said.
http://english.aljazeera.net/mritems/Images/2011/4/21/201142114812843621_8.jpg (http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/Syria) She said residents called the assault the "most atrocious attack" since protests against President Bashar al-Assad's government began five months ago. The Syrian Revolution Co-ordinating Union, a grassroots activists' group, said three people were killed by security forces on Monday, bringing the total killed since Saturday to at least 31 civilians
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said one of the three was killed after troops opened fire as a group of fleeing residents approached a checkpoint in the Ein Tamra district of Latakia.
"People are trying to flee but they cannot leave Latakia because it is besieged. The best they can do is to move from one area to another within the city," a witness told Reuters.
Turkey threat
Meanwhile, the Turkish foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, urged Syria to immediately end its deadly crackdown, threatening it with unspecified "steps" if it fails to do so.
Davutoglu said the bloodshed must end "immediately and without conditions or excuses."
"If the operations do not end, there would be nothing more to discuss about steps that would be taken," he said, without saying what that action could include.
The worst-hit area of Latakia is the al-Ramel neighbourhood, which has seen persistent protests since the uprising began. The area also houses a Palestinian refugee camp.
UNRWA spokesman talks to Al Jazeera about
the situation at the Palestinian camp in Latakia
Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said 5,000 to 10,000 residents of the camp had been fleeing after it came under fire.
The government has justified its crackdown on the city by saying it is dealing with "terrorist" gangs.
On Sunday, official news agency SANA said troops were pursuing "gunmen using machine guns, hand grenades and bombs who have been terrorising residents in the al-Ramel district'.'
A military source on Monday denied reports that the army had been using gunboats in the offensive, saying ships seen off the coast were carrying out routine tasks of protecting the coast and preventing weapons smuggling.
Elsewhere in the country, troops backed by tanks reportedly entered several towns in the central province of Homs, a flashpoint of demonstrations.
"The community of Holeh is under siege ... The army is carrying out raids and arrests under the cover of heavy gunfire," the SOHR said.
The group said a sniper had killed an elderly man.
Al Jazeera is unable to independently verify reports because of restrictions on reporting in Syria.
'Assad offered asylum'
Meanwhile, neighbouring Jordan on Monday urged Syria to stop violence and start implementing reforms.
"Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit today telephoned his Syrian counterpart Adel Safar and told him that violence must stop immediately," the state-run Petra news agency reported.
"Bakhit said Syria should listen to reason and start implementing reforms."
http://english.aljazeera.net/mritems/Images/2011/4/17/201141785133763140_8.jpg (http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/spotlight/syria/)
Germany called for more European Union sanctions against Syria and urged the UN Security Council to discuss the government crackdown there again. Andreas Peschke a foreign ministry, spokesman said reports of the assault on Latakia by tanks and navy gunboats gave a new reason to send a stronger message and increase EU sanctions.
"This current use of violence cannot be justified morally or under international law in any way," he said. "We are advocating for the UN Security Council to address the Syria issue again this week."
Earlier on Monday, Spain's El Pais newspaper reported that Madrid sent a special envoy to Damascus last month to convince Assad to accept a plan to go into exile with his family.
The government was also "ready to offer asylum to Assad and his family in Spain," the country's leading daily said.
"My impression is that [Assad] will not compromise on anything substantial," envoy Bernardino Leon said on his return, El Pais reported. "My [Syrian] interlocutors were totally detached from reality."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14533967
Activist Alexander Page (not his real name) says troops are shooting "anything that moves"
Continue reading the main story (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14533967#story_continues_1) Syria Crisis (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12813859)
Deadlock as pressure builds (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14467849)
Syria: Ramadan escalation fears (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-14359607)
UN Security Council statement (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14396703)
'Wait and see' for Syria protests (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14179188)
Thousands of Palestinian refugees are fleeing a camp in the Syrian port of Latakia which is being shelled by government troops, a UN agency says.
A spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works agency (Unrwa) told the BBC that more than 5,000 of the 10,000 refugees were on the move.
He said at least four people had died, urging immediate access to the site.
Some 30 people have reportedly died in Latakia in a three-day military attack. Syria says it is tackling gangs.
On Monday, there were also reports of a clampdown in the capital Damascus, with people being arrested randomly in the Jobar district.
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/54621000/jpg/_54621086_grab304.jpg Syrian troops have now taken control of Latakia's Ramel district, activists say
Neighbouring Turkey warned Damascus that military operations against protesters must stop "immediately and unconditionally".
"If these operations do not stop there will be nothing left to say about the steps that would be taken," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, without elaborating.
Ankara, a former close ally of Damascus, has been increasingly frustrated with its crackdown of the unrest.
More than 1,700 people have reportedly died and more than 30,000 have been detained in the six-month uprising against the rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
'Alarming' situation On Monday, Unrwa spokesman Christopher Gunness told the BBC that more than 5,000 Palestinian refugees from the camp in Latakia's al-Ramel district and surrounding areas had already fled.
"We have no idea where these people are, we have no idea how many of them are wounded, are dying, are elderly, are women, are children," he said.
Jim Muir BBC News, Beirut
Latakia was one of the cities to be caught up in the revolt soon after it erupted in mid-March. Despite repeated attempts by the regime to stifle defiance, it keeps breaking out.
It is a sensitive city. Its population is 600,000 or so, and it has a Sunni Muslim majority, as does the country, but there are also areas dominated by President Assad's minority Alawite community.
The current punishment is being meted out to mainly Sunni areas, a fact that could further aggravate sectarian tensions already sensitised by the situation.
He added that some refugees had been told by the Syrian government to leave the camp.
Mr Gunness described the situation in the camp as "alarming", calling on Damascus to grant Unwra immediate access to the site to establish "what is going on".
However, similar appeals in the past have been ignored in the past by the Syrian government, the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut reports.
Mr Gunness also said that reports from the site suggested that the Syrian military was using tanks and gunboats.
A Syrian military official on Monday denied as "absolutely baseless" reports that gunboats had fired on Latakia, Syria's official Sana news agency reported.
Activists on the ground said later on Monday that Syrian troops had taken control of the Ramel district.
'Terrorist gangs' The crackdown on Latakia began on Saturday, a day after mass anti-government protests in the city.
On Sunday, activists said Syrian warships had joined the attack, firing shells on the city.
One resident of Ramel told the Associated Press news agency: "We are being targeted from the ground and the sea. The shooting is intense. We cannot go out. They are raiding and breaking into people's homes."
A UK-based Anglican priest who is visiting his family in Latakia said earlier that the atmosphere in the city was extremely tense.
"[On Sunday] you could hear a lot of shooting and bombing from different parts of the city," the Reverend Nadim Nassar told the BBC. "The whole city is now shut... the fear is very high," he said.
Syria's state TV denied any shelling had happened.
It said the security forces were fighting armed gangs who had set up barricades and were shooting from rooftops.
The government said three members of the security forces were killed and 40 wounded in clashes. It interviewed some of the city's residents in other places who called on the army to clear out the "terrorist gangs".
Activists deny that their movement is armed but said at least one officer and a number of soldiers had defected to join the uprising.
I wonder what the Assad apologists think about this.
Note (edit)-the US State Dept is unsure whether they used ships for the shelling, according to the Syria liveblog (not that the USSD is a trustworthy source, but they wouldn't lie about that in particular). However it is clear that a brutal assault on yet another city is taking place. How many cities need to be assaulted with tanks, artillery and heavily armed infantry will be needed to get this rebellion under control? Hama has been assaulted, several other cities too ... I can't imagine the Syrian economy or society will emerge from this in a healthy state whether Assad falls or not. Either way, he has clearly exposed his government's true nature for the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoQOHoGNjUw&feature=player_embedded