25 Reported Dead in Syria as Violent Clashes Continue

Source: NYT

An intense and extended battle before dawn on Saturday between army defectors and Syrian security forces left at least 15 people dead in Idlib Province, a region in northwestern Syria that has proved to be one of the most restive since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began nearly nine months ago, a Syrian opposition group said.

The fighting in Idlib was the worst in a series of confrontations between government opponents, some of them peaceful, and security forces, in which at least eight other people were killed Saturday, the group said. The deaths came a day after the United Nations Human Rights Council urged tougher action against Syria over its crackdown.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in London, said the gunfight in Idlib Province, near the Turkish border, lasted three hours. It said seven members of the security forces were killed, along with five army defectors. The group said that the fighting occurred near the provincial headquarters and that three civilians were killed in the cross-fire.

For weeks now, the Syrian Army security forces and insurgents, many of them army defectors, have waged a pitched battle in the province. Along with Dara’a, in southern Syria, and Homs, near the Lebanese border, Idlib has proved to be one of the government’s biggest challenges in an uprising that has turned increasingly violent amid a crackdown that the United Nations says has killed over 4,000 people.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/world/middleeast/25-reported-dead-in-syria-as-violent-clashes-continue.html

the same thing that would happen to any american wo ever decided to take up arms against his country. Torture, indefinite detention and the ultimate punishment of a drone strike is what he/she would receive. Just standard procedure, nothing to see here.

I read an article with a hypothesis that a Civil War in Syria would go on for 5 years .

I am not that optimistic, this will be like Lebanon. The best scenario for Syria right now is the Libyan one , I think.

Not that that will happen. Another British colonial arrangement collapsing, perhaps. I really have no idea what the eventual result will look like though, depends on who gets involved and how much. Assad has more and better friends than Ghaddaffi did, IMHO. So five years works fine.

Edit: I suppose that would have to be British/French, credit where credit is due.

There are a number of operatives carrying out attacks against Syrian authorities, with the aim of killing as many as possible in the hope this will undermine morale. I may work, or not. The insurgents control no populated areas of Syria at all.