Article

2012-07-21 Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria army retains grip on border gate with Northern Iraq

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Posted by Zhang Fei 2012-07-21 18:35|| || Front Page|| [8 views ] Top

#1 The reporting so far has mostly covered explosions and such. It would be interesting to find out the % of each population that has been mobilized. A lot of military-age Alawite interviewees appear to be bystanders and onlookers, commenting on events as if they were occurring in a foreign country instead being active participants in combat. If Assad has a manpower shortage, why aren't these young men on the front lines? Unless Assad's the most inept war leader in the world and has no concept of a universal draft, my feeling is that a lot of the rhetoric coming from the media is the usual hyperventilation we get from them - wherein explosions = impending defeat or collapse for whatever regime is out of favor with them (or their stringers) at the moment. The media certainly came up with a bunch of stupid reasons why Iraq would fall to Sunni rebels if the US left. They were also wrong about South Vietnam, which did not fall to internal rebels, but was conquered via invasion from the North.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2012-07-21 18:58|| 2012-07-21 18:58|| Front Page Top

#2 According to wikpedia, the primary economic activity in Rabia is smuggling.

And this is a Kurdish region and the Kurds are pretty much neutral at the moment. But doubtless well armed from across the border.

Posted by phil_b 2012-07-21 18:59|| 2012-07-21 18:59|| Front Page Top

#3 Good article on what's happening in Syria's Kurdish areas.

Posted by phil_b 2012-07-21 19:09|| 2012-07-21 19:09|| Front Page Top

#4 From the NYT, an account of Sunnis fleeing Damascus:

Many Syrians were headed to stay with relatives, some to apartments they already owned and a few to hotels. But many without means staggered to the nearest village, Majd al-Anjar, where the local mosque set up a charity center where volunteers said that they had just distributed several hundred thin foam mattresses and food kits.

The mayor, Anwar Hamzeh, said Thursday night that he was stunned to see Syrian families parked by the side of the road, uneasy about where to go next. They were afraid if they ended up in a Shiite village they would be killed, he said. Hezbollah, the main Shiite party in Lebanon, supports the government of Bashar al-Assad, and many of those fleeing are Sunni Muslims.

So Majd al-Anjar opened its homes and one of its seven schools to the Syrians. Many more will come, they are sure. There are seven million people in Damascus; where will they all go? said Omar Abdel-Rahman, responsible at the charity center for distributing aid.

For everyone reaching Lebanon, there were hundreds more fleeing the capital into the Syrian countryside as the mood in Damascus shifted markedly not least because the government warned residents that it would shell rebellious neighborhoods.

Many of those arriving were well-to-do young families, the parents saying all they wanted was to get their children out of harms way while they were sure they still could. Some were obviously coming for the long haul, cars stacked with extra suitcases and childrens bicycles and kitchen utensils like a colander.

For those without much knowledge about Alawites, they apparently don't do mosques (re Daniel Pipes) - and the mosques set up by their Turkish rulers for them during the Ottoman era were used as livestock pens. This is one of the reasons that bought-and-paid for fatwas aside, very few rank-and-file Muslims (Sunni or Shiite) think of Alawites as Muslims. In addition, Alawites don't fast during the month of Ramadan, even though they observe Easter and Christmas.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2012-07-21 19:19|| 2012-07-21 19:19|| Front Page Top

#5 The Alawites call their outward declarations of fealty to the Muslim faith taqiyya, a deception necessary to avoid persecution or even slaughter at the hands of Muslims who might otherwise seem them as heretics or apostates.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2012-07-21 19:22|| 2012-07-21 19:22|| Front Page Top

#6 Syria army retains grip on border gate with Northern Iraq

Didn't seem to have much of a 'grip' during the Iraq Insurgency. Now they have motivation. Wonder why? /rhet question

Posted by Procopius2k 2012-07-21 19:38|| 2012-07-21 19:38|| Front Page Top

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