THE UN BROKERS A DEAL TO EXCHANGE TWO PRISONERS FOR ONE DESTROYED RUSSIAN TANK. Idleb (Khan Shaykhoun): May 22, 2012 - Last week Assad’s forces massacred 22 civilians in this town as they came out to greet the UN convoy of observers who showed up on  surprise visit. Assasd’s forces shelled a UN vehicle and fired on protesters (some at point blank range) killing 22 and injuring almost 100.

In response, the Free Syrian Army destroyed a number of Assad’s Russian made and supplied tanks. The UN observers were also left to spend the night in Khan Shaykhoun under the protection of the FSA and locals.

This deal came about as locals pleaded with the UN (after they left) to help them in releasing or revealing information on the fate of a number of detained/abducted citizens from the town. 

In the video we can see the head of the UN observer mission in Syria, Col. Himache discuss with locals how “the switch” will happen. Assad’s forces are seen removing the charred remains of their tank while the UN takes custody of two prisoners and releases them over to friends and family.

This rarely ever happens. Those abducted/arrested by Assad’s forces almost always face brutal torture, summary executions or simply disappear.

Thanks @LeShaque

INJURED STUDENTS OF ALEPPO UNIVERSITY INSIDE A UN OBSERVER CAR AS THEY DRIVE PAST OTHER STUDENTS BEING ASSAULTED BY ASSAD’S THUGS. Aleppo: May 17, 2012 - Thousands of students came out to protest as UN observers arrived. Thinking they were safe the students attempted to march towards SaadAllah Square, however Assad’s forces soon brought an end to the rally and began firing, arresting, assaulting and terrorizing the students in-front of the UN observers.

I can almost guarantee the UN will issue a statement saying “nothing happened”

Thanks @HamaEcho

***NEW VIDEO*** PROTESTERS PULL A UN OBSERVER TO SAFETY AS ASSAD’S FORCES OPEN FIRE ON THE CONVOY. Idleb (Khan Shaykhoun): May 15, 2012 - On a day where Bashar Al Assad’s forces massacred 22 people in this town and shelled the United Nations convoy, this video emerges of unarmed and peaceful protesters rescuing a UN observer and moving him to safety as Assad’s forces open fire.

A longer video of the attack by Assad’s forces on protesters and the UN convoy.

The UN observers ended up spending the night in the town as they could not be evacuated. So far not a word from the UN on the incident except for a vague statement claiming they did not know who was firing. Not even a mention of the 22 dead and almost 100 injured in the massacre.

This is sounding and feeling like Balkan conflict all over again. A foreign backed government massacring it’s own people.

Thanks HouriaBas

UN OBSERVERS IN SYRIA

Thanks @HamaEcho

President Bashar Assad’s regime has launched a new and sweeping arrest campaign of opposition activists and intellectuals in the past few weeks, according to Western analysts and diplomats.

The growing tally of arrests has gone largely unnoticed, overshadowed by the daily violence that threatens to jeopardize the U.N. peace plan. But in combination, both are undermining the already faint hopes of peace.

“It’s a political decapitation,” says Chris Doyle, director of the London-based Council for Arab-British Understanding. Doyle is monitoring the arrests and believes the regime aims to eliminate negotiating partners from what he calls “the rational opposition.”

Click the title to read more…

ANOTHER EXCELLENT CARTOON FROM KAFRANBEL, IDLEB

THE UN’S VISION IN SYRIA - THROUGH ASSAD’S BOOTS

ABDUL-RAZZAK TLASS - SPOKESPERSON FOR THE FREE SYRIAN ARMY, AL FAROUK BATTALION - PLEADS WITH UN OBSERVERS TO STAY IN HOMS. Apr 21, 2012 - He asks the UN observer team to leave at least 2 observers in Homs. He says he will guarantee their security, house them and feed them. He says that if the UN observers stay, then Assad’s forces will stop shelling the city and murdering them.

This just goes to show that the FSA is not an offensive force. It is a force that does not want to engage in a war or even a fight with Assasd’s mercenaries. They only wish to protest their families and friends from Assasd’s murderous forces. They want peace like all free Syrians.

Thanks @enum68

THE UN OBSERVERS GET A TASTE OF WHAT LIFE IS LIKE AS A HOMSI - JUST A SMALL TASTE. Homs (Al Beyadeh): Apr 21, 2012 - For a few seconds, the observers feel what it’s like to be a Homsi. Of course they didnt see and experience, the shelling, the murder, the massacre, the hunger, the medical disaster and the misery that is everyday life in Homs … 

Thanks @arwamenla

ASSAD’S FORCES OPEN FIRE ON UNARMED AND PEACEFUL PROTESTERS AS THE UN OBERVERS ‘OBSERVE’ THE SCENE. Damascus (Arbeen) Apr 18, 2012 - What more is there to add? Assad orders his mercenaries and thugs to fire on protesters in-front of UN observers. Plan and simple.

Watch the UN either deny this or do nothing about it.

Thanks @arwamenla

THE FREE SYRIAN ARMY - AL FAROUK BATTALION-  LIBERATE THE NATIONAL HOSPITAL IN HOMS. Apr 2, 2012 - Led by Abdul Razzak Tlass, a celebrated army defector and nephew of Syria’s former defense minister, the FSA liberate the National Hospital in Homs. The hospital has been used for months as a base and prison for Assad’s army. It was no coincidence that they used the hospital as their base since this served a dual purpose - to inhibit any wounded civilians from seeking treatment there.

At one point in the video a leader of the battalion call out to the remnants of Assad’s forces inside the building “We are your brothers, please give yourself up and we will guarantee your safety” He says it repeatedly since he knows that the men left in the building have no way out, and that Assad will not send reinforcements to save his own men.

However, it appears form the video that there were no takers of the offer and near the end we see the FSA fighters inside the hospital celebrating their victory.

They carried out this operation with nothing more than light weapons that they purchased themselves. With no supply lines and no medical supplies either. 

You can help, please donate to one of the following:

Avaaz.org - Int’l organization smuggling medical aid into Syria

Humanitarian Relief For Syria - Supports needy families and orphans as well as distributing aid in Syria

Syrian Orphans - A collection of Non-Profit Org’s supporting orphans in Syria

An article that The National was kind enough to interview me for …

“Everyone in Syria knows someone who has had their fingernails pulled out. They do the most medieval things on earth … they slit the throats of women and children,” explains Farouk, painting a grim picture of the kind of state-perpetrated violence and depravity that has provoked widespread action among Syrian expatriates living in the UAE.  

The Syrian-American, who spoke to The Review on condition that his real name not be revealed - he fears his family in Syria could be targeted by the authorities - belongs to a loose network of Emirates-based expats who are rallying to help the population of their conflict-ravaged home nation.  

According to a recent United Nations estimate, more than 8,500 people have died since the Syrian crisis began last year, and most of the dead were civilians. Farouk believes that the international humanitarian response has been unable to keep pace with the grim reality of daily life and the relentless killings in Syria.  

“Bringing aid into Syria is officially illegal,” he says, explaining why he and many other fellow countrymen and women across the UAE began, around 10 months ago, to raise funds and collect aid to smuggle into the country.  

“I’m just one guy in a huge pool doing this,” he says, adding that his network works with the Syrian Revolution General Commission, a coalition of 40 opposition groups, to get the aid to those that are most in need.  

Please click the title to read more…

***HEART-BREAKING*** A BABY GIRL HAS MULTIPLE SHRAPNEL WOUNDS ALL OVER HER TINY BODY. WHAT KIND OF ANIMALS DO THIS? Daraa (Al-Hirak): Mar 29, 2012 - Assad’s animals have no souls, no mercy, no compassion - not even for a small baby girl like this. Their master Bashar Al Assad orders the blanket shelling of entire villages, towns and cities and they comply without hesitation - “kill the children of Syria lest they grow up to ask for freedom, ask to be treated as human beings”

You can help, please donate to one of the following:

Avaaz.org - Int’l organization smuggling medical aid into Syria

Humanitarian Relief For Syria - Supports needy families and orphans as well as distributing aid in Syria

Syrian Orphans - A collection of Non-Profit Org’s supporting orphans in Syria

Thanks @ahmed