Syria ten months after the first step towards change

The daily killing of civilians nearly tripled from the beginning of the Ramadan last year when mainly on Fridays proceeding protests took place. In this crackdown most victims were women and children. Random gunfire and snipers positioned on rooftops became tragical normality, not only in Homs, the hotbed of the resistance, but elsewhere as well.

The reports and footage reached a disturbing level of cruelty: bodies of activists were returned to their families after all the organs were taken out. Tanks rolled over protesters. Many of the uploaded videos were hard to watch and some of the images left an in erasable branding on the viewers perception. But the most disgraceful crackdown measure was opening fire on mourners during the funerals of the martyrs.

The security apparatus. The biggest hunk. The number of the Syrian secret service branches varies between 13 and 17. Each level of the social, political and also military life is infiltrated by agents of the Mukhabarat. In comparison the former East German Staatssicherheit appears as moderate. Together with the Shabeeha, a kind of pro-regime militia, they form the backspin of systematical repression. To uncover all the different sections will be a major challenge for the post-Assad representatives.

The protesters themselves. Hunted, beaten, detained, tortured, released, arrested again they embody even after ten months unbroken will. An example worth to mention are the Homsees. Counting up to now the most martyrs they are still couraged to the bones exposing an immense creativity during their rallies and being a thick thorn deep sticking in the regime‘s flesh. The Homsee chants and dakbes are legendary, for each protest new poems are written and they are accompanied amongst others by a strong frontwoman, the Alawi actress Fadwa Suleiman who‘s helping them to struggle against the regime myth of sectarianism. Unity is a key word in the freedom movement‘s dictionary. Over and over the regime tried to divide them but despite all the sacrifices the protesters continue to stand for their demands.

http://www.wespeaknews.com/world/ten-months-after-16272.html

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