Syrian Christians abused, murdered and humiliated

A huge statue of the Virgin Mary towers over churches, monasteries and mosques in the Syrian city of Maaloula, where a dialect of the Aramaic language of Jesus is still spoken.

The town has managed to stay out of the Syrian conflict between Sunni Muslim rebels and the regime of dictator Bashar Assad, as have most of Syria's 2 million Christians.

However, worsening violence has forced the community into a corner: Continuous clashes between the rebels and the regime in this isolated town of 2,000 people, as well as other Christian towns over the past two weeks, have many Christians worried that they will no longer be allowed to stay neutral.

"The Christians now live in a terror," said Hussam, a Christian from the nearby town of Saidnaya, who asked not to be identified because he feared for the safety of his family if he was to talk openly. "But they want to stay in Syria no matter what."

"Many of us came from the next town and about 30 others came from the Bab Touma and Qassa," said Sari, a 24-year-old civilian who asked not to be identified out of fear of being targeted by the rebels. "We heard that Jabhat al-Nusra (was) kidnapping girls and destroying churches in Maaloula, so we went there for three days to fight al-Nusra."

Mother Bilajea Saeaf, director of Maaloula's St. Teqla Convent, told Lebanese LBC TV that the facility has been untouched. "No one came near us, and no one shot at the churches or the locals, nor did they assault the nuns," Saeaf said.

Muslim militias say the idea that the regime is protecting Christians is "foolish," said Joshua Landis, director of the Center of Middle East Studies at Oklahoma University. "They say, if the regime had only given up, then this level of violence would have never taken place," Landis said. "What's happening in Maaloula has happened in one town after the next across Syria. Rebels take a town, the regime responds with overwhelming power and force, lobbing shells, very indiscriminately killing people," he added.

"It doesn't take much," Landis said. "Christians were driven out of Anatolia before the first world war. They've been driven out of Iraq. They've been driven out of Palestine/Israel. The Copts have been getting the bad end of the stick in Egypt. The Syrian regime has been taken advantage of Christians feeling their days are numbered."

"We are against the formation of an Islamic state. We want a Syrian secular state for all Syrians," he said.

More: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/09/21/syria-christians/2843139/

Explosive Syria

Footage reportedly shows a large explosion in Barzeh, with fighting between government forces and opposition fighters

 Huge explosions are captured on camera with an Arabic narrator saying government forces were targeting 'terrorists' in the town of Barzeh.

The bulletin says the explosions were carried out by militants fleeing the area near the Syrian capital Damascus.

In the video, obtained from a social media site, troops can be seen taking position amongst the rubble in the town with further footage showing soldiers moving between buildings during the offensive.

The town has been a flash-point for fighting between rebels and President Assad's forces for several months with activists reporting that the army is using siege tactics to starve the population into submission.

High-level debates vs crime in Syria

For a country that produces over 450 kinds of Swiss cheese, it seems apropos to host a conference that has as many holes as its namesake product. The Geneva II international conference promises, in its current form, little to no impact on the conflict inside Syria. Half of those invited have no major say on battlefield happenings, while the other half gives no relevance to the agenda or proposals.

The conference, expected to be held on Nov. 23, is proving early on to be falling short on substance. In theory, it presents a good opportunity for the United States and Russia to show a shared vision on how to end the conflict, and build on the momentum of the Chemical Weapons agreement achieved last month. For Syria, however, the conference, in its proposed framework and regarding the level of enforcement, promises no credible path towards ending the two-and-half-year-old conflict.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/world/2013/10/24/Geneva-II-A-Swiss-cheese-conference-for-Syria.html

Meanwhile Syrian opposition and radicals torture and kill innocent civilians. New facts of killings leaked from Syria.

Introduction

This blog was created to share the facts of civil war crimes in Arab countries. This is maybe the only one blog where true facts of war are posted without any moderation.
You can leave your comment here or write me directly to hameed.najjar71@gmail.com

The Arab uprisings began at the end of 2010, and so far, rulers have been forced from power in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen, while significant conflict continues in Bahrain and Syria. Additionally most other Arab states have seen at least some kind of protest. In 2012, we did not see an Arab leader fall (Yemeni president-elect Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi assumed power in February), but there has been a growing flame of tension in a number of countries.
In June, former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison, and former Tunisian president Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali received a life sentence for the deaths of 23 protesters. He also received a 66-year sentence in civilian court on charges of embezzlement, drug trafficking and other crimes. Ben Ali fled with his wife to Saudi Arabia and is unlikely to see any jail time.
In July, the Syrian conflict escalated as the Red Cross declared it a civil war; around 17,000 people had been killed by that time. The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday that 85 percent of the people killed in the conflict – 39,520 – died in 2012.
Other Arab countries did not reach Syria’s level of violence, but protests and opposition activity were present throughout the year.
Egypt, the leader and bellwether of the Arab world, demonstrates how public opinion has become more important compared to before the uprisings began. We have witnessed ongoing protests from all sides of the spectrum, though it is true that the Muslim Brotherhood-backed regime has dealt strictly, and even harshly, with any opposition.

Here is the first part of true facts from Syria.