A military crackdown on Syria’s seven-week uprising broadened Sunday, with reinforcements sent to two cities under siege and more forces deployed in a town in a restive region in the south of the country, activists and human rights groups said. Fourteen were killed in Homs, the groups said, and hundreds reported arrested.
The crackdown ”” from the Mediterranean coast to the poor steppe of southern Syria ”” seemed to mark a decisive turn in an uprising that has posed the gravest challenge to the 11-year rule of President Bashar al-Assad. Even though government officials have continued to hint at reforms, and even gingerly reached out to some dissidents last week, the crackdown seemed to signal the government’s intent to end the uprising by force.
At least 30 tanks were said to be inside Baniyas, one of Syria’s most restive locales, where the military entered Saturday. Activists and human rights groups said they had almost no information about the coastal town of 50,000, but one activist said at least six people were killed and 250 arrested since the operation began.
At what point do we see the protesters take up arms against such remarkable brutality? Libya is out there as an example. Assad is digging his own grave, is he not? Larry
Larry, it may yet happen. But you can’t fight tanks with sticks and stones, nor without training.
Remember also that the Syrian army is in a wholly different class to the Libyan “army”. The Syrians came very close to knocking over the elite Israeli tank forces in 1973 and they have always maintained reasonable competence by the standard of their region. Whereas Qaddafi’s force is mainly experienced in conducting pogroms!
Then there is the issue of outside assistance: Qaddafi was probably always going to lose the extreme east of his country, but in fact he has lost the centre and a significant chunk of the west as well. This is substantially due to NATO air support to the rebels – NATO closed down the Libyan air force, and it has also destroyed many Libyan ground assets (rocket batteries, artillery and tanks). This has enabled the Libyan rebels to fight on less unequal terms. Libya is right next to a western entity (Europe) and it is easy enough to justify intervention there without alarming other major players. But if you want to intervene in Syria, you have to take account of the views of Turkey, Israel and Iraq, among others. Even Israel will not necessarily be supportive of western intervention against one of its neighbours with which it has been in a form of detente for many years.
I am sorry that the above may not be very encouraging, but the West has limited power. Personally, I think the West should squash Qaddafi like a beetle, then concentrate on fostering a workable nation there. If that works (and I cannot see any reason why it wouldn’t), it is likely to prove a showcase for other middle-eastern intellectuals interested in pursuing revolution in their own countries.