Syria

NOVANEWS by crescentandcross   Syrian state television shows weapons, ammunitions and wads of cash, belonging to an ‘armed group.’ At least five people have been killed across Syria during attacks on the crowds heading to bury the victims of the recent unrest in the country. On Saturday, unidentified snipers gunned down three mourners and wounded another in Douma, a Damascus suburb, AFP reported.  Two others died and several more sustained injury during an attack on a procession, which had departed from the southwestern city of Daraa. Since mid-March, Syria has been struggling with protests that have left around 200 people, including security forces, dead. Syrian authorities blame armed groups and foreign elements for the violence. The tension comes despite Syrian Pre...

NOVANEWS   Hundreds Reported Wounded as Protests Sweep Nation by Jason Ditz Antiwar.com   The protest movement in Syria delivered on a promised record turnout on Friday, with massive ralliesreported in virtually every city nationwide. The regime’s security forces were also out in force, however, shooting massive numbers of demonstrators. A very preliminary count has at least 88 protesters killed and several hundred others wounded. The toll is almost certain to rise in what has been dubbed by opposition members the “Good Friday Massacre.” Syria’s state media was largely mum on the protests, but accused “armed groups” (the regime’s chosen term for demonstrators) of injuring firemen in an attack in Damascus. Interestingly for an “armed” group, the attackers were said to hav...

NOVANEWS by crescentandcross State-run Damascus news agency says security forces recovered digital equipment, bottles of fake blood used by ‘criminal group’ to falsify photos, videos depicting acts of violence against protestors With the death toll in Syria’s anti-regime protests rising and faced with harsh criticism by the West, Syrian President Bashar Assad seems to be desperate to prove the reports of his security forces’ brutality are exaggerated. Saturday afternoon saw Tens of thousands of Syrian mourners en route to the southern town of Ezreh, for the funerals of 18 people killed by security forces during protests, a rights activist said. Funerals were also due to take place in other parts of Syria, following one of the bloodiest days of protests since unprecedented pro-demo...

NOVANEWS by crescentandcross     Ed note–here we go folks, just as predicted–Syria is the next EOI–meaning “Enemy of Israel” due to be militarily attacked by the US. Amazing how when it serves Israel’s purposes, some violence is “outrageous” but when innocent Palestinians are being incinerated by Israel the US is as silent as death. WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is condemning the latest use of force by Syria against anti-government demonstrators and says the regime’s “outrageous” use of violence against the protesters must “end now.” At least 75 people were killed Friday when Syrian security forces fired bullets and tear gas at thousands of protesters across the country. It was the bloodiest day of the monthlong uprising against President Bashar Assad. In a statem...

NOVANEWS       Photo: Reuters Protesters hold a Syrian flag during a demonstration in Zabadani, near Damascus, April 22, 2011 Rights groups and activists say at least 75 people were killed in Syria on Friday, after security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters who rallied across the country.  The toll would make Friday the deadliest single day of protests in the country since the anti-government uprising began in March. Witnesses and activists say security forces used live ammunition and tear gas on protesters, who poured onto the streets after Friday prayers and called for President Bashar al-Assad's immediate departure.  The deaths were reported in areas including the southern Daraa region, the central city of Homs and communities near the capital, D...

NOVANEWS   Good Friday and other Easter processions and festivals have been cancelled across Syria as street unrest boils over into violence.     Ed note–WHAAAAT?????? Christians in Syria????But Syria is one of them MOOZLEM countries, full of THEM MOOSLEMS that hate Christians, want to cut off their heads and circumcise their women!!! This is not possible! All kidding aside here folks, as has been pointed out numerous times on this site, there are millions of Christians throughout the Middle East living peacably beside their muslim neighbors and who got along just fine until the Jews decided to turn the entire area into a hellhole with their typical, historically-documented troublemaking. The country’s Christian population has been forced to abandon i...

NOVANEWS   President Assad’s latest declarations are on par with the desperate measures taken by his Egyptian counterpart. Eventually, something will give. Syrian President Bashar Assad promised this week to rescind his country’s emergency regime, after nearly 48 years. Later he announced that the police commissioner of the city of Banias would be dismissed because of the killing of demonstrators there, and that new laws relating to communication and political parties, as well as legislation permitting more than five people to assemble (thus legalizing demonstrations ), would be enacted. Boys hold a banner during a demonstration in the the Syrian port city of Banias April 17, 2011. Photo by: Reuters However, much of what has been taking place in the Syrian regime re...

NOVANEWS   wsws.org Tens of thousands are protesting in Syria against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. There was further bloody repression by the right-wing dictatorship on Sunday and Tuesday, as police and soldiers opened fire on demonstrators in Homs, a city of 700,000 near the Turkish border. Assad has responded to the protests over the past month with a mixture of dubious concessions and brutal violence. The shootings in Homs and nearby towns were followed by the announcement that Assad was ending the state of emergency in effect since the Baath Party took power in Syria in 1963. What that means in practice remains to be seen, since the regime has many other instruments of repression, legal and extra-legal. The 45-year-old Assad inherited power in 2000 from his father Hafez, who ...

NOVANEWS   source–Ynet US secretary of state says Damascus must stop ‘arbitrary arrests, torture of prisoners’ in its attempt to quell anti-government protests after thousands of students take to streets, vow to hold largest rally to date on Friday. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton rapped the Syrian regime for its crackdown on anti-government protests Wednesday, saying Damascus “must stop the arbitrary arrests, detentions and torture of prisoners, and it must cease the violence”. Clinton’s condemnation came after thousands of students demonstrated against the authoritarian regime, brushing off President Bashar Assad’s sweeping declarations of reform as the country’s growing protest movement vowed to stage the biggest rallies to date on Friday. The month-long uprising in...

NOVANEWS Posted by: Sammi Ibrahem Chair of West Midland PSC   Protest develops in Baniyas, Syria An interview with Bassam Abu Abdulla from the Al Watan news agency in Damascus The US, Western governments and popular media sow discord in Syria by supporting opposition groups who want the nation and its people to divide under developing democratic reforms. In an interview with Press TV, Bassam Abu Abdulla, from the Al Watan news agency in Damascus, tells us that the US and Saudi Arabian governments as well as the Western media are manipulating reports and supporting opposition groups in Syria because the government has long been against the US and Israeli policy in the region. Press TV: What can you tell us about recent events taking place in Syria? Abu Abdulla: Gen...