Fighting in Syria Continues, 126 Dead on Friday

Human rights sources are reporting to SwissInfo that no less than 126 people have died Friday in Syria, mainly in Damascus and Aleppo. No mention of the conditions in Latakia.



Of the dead reported, apparently 10 are citizens from Douma who were killed by government forces.
With so many reports from outside human rights sources that civilians are harmed by the army of the Syrian regime (namely, that of al-Assad) I tend to believe atrocities are being committed, and I can only think of a few reasons why Bashar al-Assad would allow such acts

1. He is afraid for his regime. Obviously there are a handful of neighboring Arab countries where the power of the people, with a little outside help in some cases, cased regime change. Syria is a small country which means it is harder to get news about it, good or bad. Assad perhaps realizes this and is choosing to silence the people, violating human rights in a major way, knowing they will not be able to call for aid.
2. He is extremely confident in his regime. On the other hand, he could be very comfortable in his regime’s ability to withstand or halt the uprising (seems to be the later). He could know that the outside world will not do a thing to help the Syrians and there is no interest in defense of their human rights, let alone the strategic value of a new regime in Syria.

In the end, this is more complicated than I try to paint it. Of course Assad is not sitting in a lair in Damascus cackling vilely and wringing his fingers as generals show images of dead Syrian children. There could be an honest break in the chain-of-command somewhere. Judging by how he and his father have governed Syria in the past? The break is not that huge.

Syrian Blogger's Mom Kidnapped

The Syrian blogger Lubna Mari has been an outspoken critic of the Assad regime. Recently her mother was kidnapped by government minders in an attempt to lure Lubna back into Syria and stop her from speaking out against Syrian leadership and its human rights abuses.

Lubna says in the al-Arabiya article that she was suspicious when her mom’s phone had been off since August 13th, went back up randomly, followed by a call from her mom asking her to return to Syria because she was undergoing a medical operation.

She continued by saying this was really out-of-character for her mother and she felt instantly suspicious because her mom had been encouraging her to leave Syria and not come back for any reason out of fear for her daughter’s safety.

The circumstances of this kidnapping are unique because Lubna Mari and her family belong to a minority faction, the Alawites, which is the same group Bashar al-Assad himself belongs to.

She criticized her fellow Alawites for their silence against the regime and said that she and her mother never imagined this kind of treatment as punishment from the government because they are innocent of any crime. She claims that all she did through her continued criticism was ‘try to build a new Syria. A Syria for everyone.’

The regime is making a huge mistake by thinking it will get good human rights publicity by kidnapping and threatening a blogger's mother. That is my only commentary on that issue.