President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad's
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
brutal crackdown on dissent.
Residents and a Syrian rights group said on Thursday dozens of tanks and personnel carriers also deployed around Khan Sheikhun, a town about 30km south of Maarat al-Numan on the main north-south highway linking Damascus
...The
City of Jasminis the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
and Aleppo.
...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins...
"Dozens of tanks, armoured cars, personnel carriers and army trucks have been deployed at entrance points to Khan Sheikhun, and soldiers have started going in" to the northwest town near Hama, said rights activist Rami Abdulrahman.
Despite being globally condemned, al-Assad has continued to send troops to flashpoint cities and towns to suppress the protests against his one-party rule.
Syrian rights groups say 1,300 civilians and more than 300 soldiers and police have been killed since the protests, inspired by Arab uprisings which toppled leaders in Egypt and Tunisia, broke out in March against 41 years of rule by the Assad family.
Fleeing residents
The latest focus of the crackdown has been in the northwest of the country, around the town of Jisr al-Shughur where authorities say 120 security personnel were killed earlier this month.The Khan Sheikhun deployment marks a continuation of military operations in the province of Idlib, where forces have targeted Ariha, Maarat al-Numan, Jisr al-Shughur and its surroundings, an activist said.
The crackdown has forced thousands of refugees to stream north across the border into Turkey.
Maarat al-Numan's residents said thousands of people headed to Aleppo and to Turkey, adding to a refugee flow that started in anticipation of the military assault on Jisr al-Shughur.
Syria's official state news agency said on Wednesday thousands of people were returning to Jisr al-Shughur. However,
we can't all be heroes Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by...
Turkish officials said 8,900 Syrians, many from that town, were still in Turkey, which has set up four refugee camps.
"We are hearing that they are calling for people to return, but we know that we will die if we go back," said a refugee on the Turkish side of the border who gave his name as Ahmed.
"I am not planning to go back unless Bashir al-Assad falls," said Abdulkadir, a 28-year-old refugee, who decamped from a village near Jisr al-Shughur two days ago. Another 10,000 refugees were sheltering inside Syria close to the border.
Turkish call
Meanwhile,
...back at the mall, Clarissa spent the day shopping for new underwear. Tonight was going to be a special occasion...
Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, held three hours of talks with Syria's special envoy Hassan Turkmani on Thursday morning and called for an immediate end to the crackdown.
"Turkey wanted a "strong, stable, prosperous Syria", which would be achieved if Assad implemented reforms,." Davutoglu said.
"In order to achieve this, the violence must stop immediately. Yesterday I clearly saw the fear in the eyes of the people and I shared this," he said in Ankara, a day after he visited a border camp in Yayladagi, about 20km from Jisr al-Shughur, and talked to refugees.
Turkish authorities have tightened control over the border, making it harder for Syrians to cross unofficially.
A Turkish Red Islamic Thingy official, who requested anonymity, said more tent camps were being prepared at the eastern end of the 800km border, near the Turkish city of Mardin, far from where the current influx of refugees is concentrated.
Fleeing refugees described shootings by troops and gunnies loyal to al-Assad, known as "shabbiha", and the burning of land and crops in a scorched earth policy to subdue people of the region. The government has accused "gangs" of burning crops.